"Words are words and we want to see actions": Every legal option on the table in Dixon racist Instagram post
DIXON -- "Disgusting, disturbing, and troubling," Dixon Unified School District Superintendent Brian Dolan told media and families of nearly two dozen John Knight Middle School students targeted in a racist social media post.
On Friday, 72 hours after administrators were notified by a parent about the post, Dolan said there was more work to be done to address the incident, but also, to create "lasting change."
The post was planned, Dolan explained as he walked the public through the last three days — from Wednesday night when they learned about the post to the notifications of families and to Friday when the investigation was still in progress.
A male seventh-grade student at John Knight Middle School made the post and other students were involved in that — how many, Dolan said, is still under investigation. The seventh grader posted a collage-type photo with pictures of African American and biracial students, including John Knight Middle School Principal Kamilah O'Connor, who is Black, with a racist caption on February 1, the start of Black History Month.
The students were not told why their photos had been taken in the two weeks leading up to the post, Dolan said, and they were unaware they had been targeted. District administrators called each student's family to notify them of the incident and the seventh grader identified as the poster has not been back to school since Wednesday, at the district's request.
"This took an awful lot of planning and preparation to put this together and send it out. This level of planning and execution is atypical of lots of middle schoolers, quite honestly," said Dolan on Friday in a more than hour-long press conference where he spoke and took questions from media and parents of students who were targeted by the post.
Dolan said the district has been in contact with Dixon police and "every legal option" is being pursued, including expulsion. A decision on the full extent of consequences, Dolan said, could take weeks.
The seventh grader who made the post has had prior interactions with school staff, but Dolan would not give specifics.
"This falls on me. This falls on us, including our families, our community. This is bigger than Dixon Unified," said Dolan.
Parents like Ashley Robinson, whose son was targeted by the racist post, said she was "hopeful" about the dialogue and answers Dolan gave on Friday.
"This is important to our community. Our children deserve to be protected as well as everybody else's. This is a very disheartening situation, but there is hope that this can be fixed," said Robinson.
Dixon Unified School District already has an Equity Task Force, but parents who spoke to Dolan on Friday said those efforts aren't translating to Dixon campuses. Parents with multiple children in the district said this was not the first time their families had been targeted by racism and felt school administrators and educators weren't prepared to handle the issues.
Inclusive curriculum, diversity and representation among staff, beyond certified staff members, and culture training for educators are all next steps parents said should be mandatory. Dolan agreed, noting the district can't fix these issues alone.
"I believe we need outside help. We don't have the capacity to do this on our own," said Dolan.
Some district administrators have been trained on diversity and equity, but Dolan said it's clear there is more work to do, including extending that training.
"It hurts that we have to prep our kids for this. It hurts that we have to see them suffer. We shouldn't have to go through this," said Robinson.
The Spiller family, including 11-year-old Cyrus, attended Friday's meeting with Dolan and the media. With permission from his mother, Cyrus told CBS13 it was "bad" and he was "angry" when he learned he had been targeted in the post.
Cyrus said he did not feel safe at John Knight Middle School: "Not really, with all of the stuff going on right now, but when this is handled I probably will." said Cyrus.
Dolan said next steps will include conversations with voices in the community, including families impacted by the racist post, and others who do not feel the school communities they are part of are inclusive. He said culture, gender, race, and all identities are welcomed and accepted, and that he plans to work to ensure every identity is safe on campuses.
"Words are words and we want to see actions," said Robinson.
On February 16, the Dixon Unified Board of Education will meet for their bimonthly meetings, and Dolan said there will be an update on this situation at that time, including steps to move forward with better education on diversity and equity.
