Parents At OC High School Fire Back At Allegations Of Racism, Want Accusing Principal Disciplined
SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO (CBSLA) — Parents of students at an Orange County high school are firing back a principal who called some of their children racist, and they're asking he get reprimanded for what they see as undue and unprofessional criticism.
Santa Ana High Principal Jeff Bishop claimed this week he saw posters reading "We Love White" and "Build the Wall" at last Friday's game against Aliso Niguel. He also said a small number of kids said, "It's not a great day to be Mexican now, is it?" Many of his students are Latino, and he took it upon himself to make his disappointment known on social media.
Both schools issued statements Wednesday saying they were trying to find common ground, but parents of Aliso Niguel students said Bishop is making that difficult.
"It's fairly insulting to have somebody in a position of authority malign our children," parent Dave Harrington told the San Juan Capistrano Unified School District board. "They've got enough going on without having to have some adult do this to them."
"Mr. Bishop's continued Facebook posts and quotes in other media outlets are inflammatory and could endanger the safety of my children and other students," echoed another parent.
The students also spoke for themselves.
"Under no circumstance should an adult who leads the youth and constructs their moral compass and perspective be able to profanely attack a parent or another person," said Maryam Izadshenas. "A staff member should never resort to share their grievances on social media where only one narrative or side can be shown and easily manipulated by others."
Parents want Bishop to face some type of disciplinary action for his accusation that things such as students chanting "USA! USA!," were racist. For example, they said he failed to acknowledge that along with the "We Love White" posters, there were also "We Love Red" and "We Love Blue" posters.
"Certainly, when the [Associated Student Body] made signs that said, 'We Love Red,' 'We Love White,' and 'We Love Blue,' they did not mean to infer [sic] that we love communism, we love white people more than other people," said one parent.
A spokesperson with the Santa Ana Unified School District superintendent's office told CBS2 News they could not confirm what Bishop posted on social media, but they did say he would no longer be speaking to the media.
