C.A.F.E.

Current 12th grade student :

I moved into this town my freshman year. My mom and I regret moving because of my experience and the possible experiences my brother who is still a baby, will experience. 

Starting off with my teacher, I told him I could help with translating school work for those in the ESL program. He told me “You are hispanic? But you are so bright, you do so well in class. You don’t look anything similar to your other classmates. And you behave really well”. Not only was it offensive towards me but also my own race. I had a sun allergy since I was a kid, but it got worse as I grew up. I had to cover up fully in the summer specially and avoided going outside. Due to this I started to lighten up and I was almost light as my white classmates. I acknowledge my privilege just because I didn't look like the stereotypical hispanic. Though the moments I was translating and just talking Spanish with my friends, people in my class would laugh and snicker. They would make fun of me speaking spanish with my peers. 

I overheard one day, “If you are gonna live here in America, you should either come here knowing english or don’t bother coming to school. These people should just go back to their country”. I saw other students in the lunch line making fun and saying racist things to those who work for lunch services. When I tell people that I am not born in this country and immigrated, they comment things like “How did you make it pass the border?”, “Do you ever get scared of being deported?”, or “Ill keep your secret then, I don’t want others knowing you are illegal”.

English is not my first language and I often pronounce things differently and don’t understand complex words. There have beens people who have kindly corrected me because of how I pronounced a name or a noun. But many people have been mean towards me and I have gotten into arguments with them because they can’t handle that I said “Ah instead of Eh” for a word. I have moved schools about 9 times and all throughout New York State, and there are different accents everywhere. People get so pressed about one word and when I try to explain that I can’t make the noise because my mother tongue doesn’t have it, people say that I should go back to my country. 

Now switching over to homophobia, I get back handed comments of me staying away from a female because she doesn’t want to have sex with me. I personally have never thought those things, I have liked other females but it is often discreet and I never pursue anyone just to not make them uncomfortable. In freshman year I joined the GSA, and when I mentioned that people made fun of the organization itself and saying that “freaky gay people are there” and “they probably use that place to hook up”. 

Would Classism be tied up with nepotism? Well I still want to mention it. (If this part is gonna be shared, please do keep it anonymous) Did you see Mamma Mia? Or the recent production of High School Musical? Well did you know that some of the kids who received leads, are children of those in charge of the Carmel Drama Booster Club? Now they are talented, but you think that their parents paying thousands dollars every year doesn’t have an influence? Mamma Mia, I was there for some of the auditions. I have done theatre for a while and I can tell you there were incredibly talented students there, and many of them where students of color. Yet that year, THEIR senior year, they were given ensemble. Those leads where given to a lot of Juniors who were white. Now Mamma Mia doesn't have much representation. High School Musical, when it was announced, I was scared because I knew for a fact it was not gonna be authentic. Gabriella, a hispanic character played by a filipino actress, Taylor a black character, Chad, a Black Character, Zeke, a Black Character. High School Musical had a slightly diverse cast for its time, and that made me happy as a hispanic kid. Now you might ask, maybe there wasn’t enough students of color! Well there were many who auditioned and were in ensemble. The main cast list came out, and there was one hispanic guy who played Chad. Everyone else was white. I love the music directors because they are kind people but if you are gonna pick a show, don’t pull this kind of things again. A lot of my non-white cast mates felt similar, will we ever get the same opportunity as these people? 

Now I talk about these things in a class SUNY Racism, Classism, and Sexism. Let’s be honest we can’t cover all these topics in a year, but we can equally talk about them. Nope. Its March, and we haven’t gotten into Racism or Classism. I have looked at the syllabus and we were suppose to talk about it in November. We have done presentations on people for hispanic heritage month and black history month but is it really talking about the topic? No. One of the teachers spoke out that the reason behind this was that they used to talk about racism first but many people dropped because they were uncomfortable, and that it was a lot of their white kids. Clearly, the comfort of white students is prioritized more than the voices of POC in this class. Even in the best places…our voices are ignored.

Current student 12th grade:

Most of the instances I have experienced Sexism first hand have always been so casual and quick that I feel if I were to speak up, it would not be taken seriously. It is many minute events that add up to a bigger problem. Having male classmates time and time again refuse to rely on my answers in school (even when I am right), teachers consistently ignoring the comments made in class about sexual assault, etc. 

One instance I really had an issue with was when in the 2021-2022 school year, a student in my class got suspended for a few weeks for making threats to bomb the school. However, many girls had also come forward to the administration about how he had sexually assaulted them. I feel that his couple week suspension was not enough. The school let him come back and be a student again while the girls he assaulted have to see him every single day. As for myself, my Junior year I was sexually assaulted by a then good friend of mine. Just knowing there was ultimately no lasting consequences for the classmate I just described, I knew I could never go to the school. 

An event I experienced in May 2022, was when I was walking uptown past the library entrance of CHS, there were two male students standing on the sidewalk. These two male students began “cat calling” me and saying frankly vile things as I walked past. I have talked to lots of other female classmates about this and many have experienced similar things. Male classmates “rating” them on a scale of 1-10 as well as the previously mentioned “cat-calling”. 

However, along with the things I have experienced myself, I have witnessed horrific Homophobia and Racism within the school. Aside from specific incidents, I think I hear the F slur and N word every single day walking through the halls from people who are very obviously not apart of the LGBTQ+ community or Black. As well as this, there are almost always teachers and administrators parked out in the hallways outside of doorways or just monitoring the halls. How have I never seen them do anything to condemn this language? If I hear this every single day, so do they. And yet, I don’t think I have ever heard of a student getting punished for using those words. 

One of my close friends who is gay has been called the F slur multiple times in and out of school. This is just seen as a “casual” thing. Like, there’s “nothing anyone can do” and “people will be horrible no matter what.” But I believe that the school could be doing so much more to make the walls of CHS to be a place where minorities can feel safe and supported, and not endure such foul discrimination. 

Why do these kids feel so comfortable spewing so much hate? Because they can do it without getting in trouble. Another incident is when I was in gym with my friend looking for another pair of people to make a group of four, and a gym teacher came up to us and said “Here, go play with those ethnic girls” as he pointed to a pair of girls who were Hispanic/Latino. I thought the word “ethnic” was so…….. I don’t even have a word for it. Strange? Uncalled for? I felt that singling out two girls by their ethnicity/race, and to use the word “ethnic” was extremely disturbing. 

I believe my first experience witnessing Racism within CHS was my Freshman year, so the 2019-2020 school year. I was waiting in the gym lobby with a group of my classmates. A sign on the door to the staircase leading upstairs had a message on it in English and the same message written under it in Spanish. A male student in my grade went on to say “This is America, you should know how to speak English, and if not, get out.” When I heard this I looked at my friend standing next to me, utterly appalled. I then asked the perpetrator what his problem was, and him and his friends just laughed. The bell then rang, and they all made it up the stairs. I was in genuine shock that people could just so freely think like that and say those hateful disgusting things. 

I think the biggest things I witnessed throughout my time at CHS was my Junior year (2021-2022) Forensics class. All throughout the year, majority of the students were perpetually using slurs and openly hating people in the LGBTQ+ community. One day towards the end of the school year, the Gay- Straight Alliance Club had done some sort of fundraiser day (I can’t remember specific details), but they were giving out little pride flags. I walk into Forensics class and there are some of my male classmates throwing the flags on the ground and stomping on them while laughing. One student in particular was loudly saying how he “hates gay people” and “they should burn in hell.” I was across the classroom at this point, but I proceeded to yell at him “Who the f*ck do you think you are?” and things of that nature. My teacher had witnessed this whole thing and scolded ME for MY language. All he did to the homophobes in the class was telling them to put the flags away. I was infuriated that this teacher was more angry at me for cursing, than for kids actively being homophobic. 

All of these incidents, all of these events, are just few of many. As I was writing this, it’s like I remembered more and more things that I have witnessed. There is so much i cant even remember, because it is such a daily occurrence. And it is not just me. Every person I talk to who is a student at this school has stories like this. Not everyone speaks up, but everyone has a story. And yet, the school acts completely oblivious to it all. There are teachers in every hallway, every classroom, and yet I never hear of any punishment or changes being made? It is astounding and frankly, I cannot wait to not be in this school anymore. But i worry for those who will continue to go through this school district and have to endure the discrimination that has caused damage to so many children. It is horrendous and unfair.

Current student 10th grade:

I feel incredibly privileged in that I have not experienced much racism or xenophobia during my time in the Carmel Central School District. However, I believe that action needs to be taken to improve the school’s response to any sort of discrimination. I know many people who have been called racist or homophobic slurs, and I believe that xenophobia is a large problem in our district. Considering that our district is majority-white, I believe that many students that have faced discrimination have been afraid to come forward with their issues. I want this to change and make this district a safe space.

Parent of current student:

School officials failed to acknowledge the pattern of harassment as indicative of a discriminatory hostile environment in violation of Title VI. Misconduct need not be directed at a particular student to constitute discriminatory harassment and foster a discriminatory hostile environment. 

The harassing conduct included overtly discriminatory behavior and also targeted students on the basis of their gender identity. The nature of the harassment, the number of incidents, and the students’ safety concerns demonstrate that there was a discriminatory hostile environment that interfered with the students’ ability to participate in the school’s education programs and activities. 

Had the school recognized that a discriminatory hostile environment had been created, it would have realized that it needed to do more than just discipline the few individuals whom it could identify as having been involved. By failing to acknowledge the discriminatory hostile environment, the school failed to meet its obligation to implement a more systemic response to address the unique effect that the misconduct had on the school climate. 

A more effective response would have included, in addition to punishing the perpetrators, such steps as reaffirming the school’s policy against discrimination, publicizing the means to report allegations of discriminatory harassment, training faculty on constructive responses to discriminatory conflict, hosting class discussions about discriminatory harassment and sensitivity to students of other gender identities, and conducting outreach to involve parents and students in an effort to identify problems and improve the school climate. 

Finally, had school officials responded appropriately and aggressively to the discriminatory harassment when they first became aware of it, the school might have prevented the escalation of violence that occurred last May. This incident described above was one of many several harassment and discriminatory acts that my child has experienced. I have a handful of incidents that were reported to administrators and they were always made my child feel as it the incidents were normal “teenage” behavior. I immediately requested a meeting with superintendent where I recorded the meeting and had made repetitive suggestions as to what I would like to see changed to improve the school climate. 

A year later here we are today and still nothing has changed.

Current student: 10th grade

While attending George Fischer Middle School I was frequently called homophobic slurs by a group of students at lunch due to the short masculine hair I had at the time. My friends didn’t understand what these words meant, so they did not help, nor did any witnessing monitors interfere. They called me words such as “D*ke” and “F*ggot” and would ask me if I was a lesbian, though I would ignore them out of fear for my safety. These same student still participate in behavior like this towards other students.

Graduate 20':

(Witnessing Racism) When attending Carmel Schools I befriended a girl who moved here with her family from Nigeria. All of the so called “popular” boys would scream NIGERIA at her every time she entered a room, in a mocking Nigerian accent. This sickened me I would always tell them to keep their mouths shut and it would do absolutely nothing. I did not feel confident enough to speak up considerably how the administration handles my own situations in the past. I wish the administration would step up and actually do something, create serious punishments for people that act on racism. 

(First Hand Homophobia) In Carmel High School, I wasn’t openly gay until senior year. However, several boys and a few girls would throw around the word “Dyke” at me. They would say “you’re such a dyke" or "you’re so gay.” I would tell them that isn’t a joke to me. That’s really hurtful. Also, one time I started to have a crush on this boy and he and I kissed once. He then went on to tell the whole grade that I was transgender (which I am not). There is ABSOLUTELY NO REASON for that to be used in any derogatory way or as in insult to a person in general.

graduate 18;

I am a first born child of an immigrant. One who came to this country at the age of 17 and also attended Carmel High School along with her siblings. My family has not only been attending the Carmel school district for generations, but we all have also been targets for racism. From my aunt who was bullied enough to drop out in the 90s, to my younger brother who is called slurs in the hallway for looking Asian. 

I have dealt with racism within the school district since the beginning of my school career. My younger siblings too. One example of this is being placed in ESL classes as children when we already fluently spoke English, just because we were all Hispanic. They also assumed my mother did not speak English at all. They would pull me out of class to discuss my siblings’ matters as if I was their mom. They would not include my mother in any school related matters until she had to come in person to ask that they stop assuming she didn’t speak english. 

As time went by, again and again, teachers would assume that my Hispanic mother did not speak English and would keep her out of the loop of her own children’s scholastic needs. Fast forward past my elementary years- the racism and discrimination worsened. This time, by my own peers. It started in fifth grade and continued on until high school. I was consistently being called a sp*c, being told to go mow people’s lawns, go back to my country etc. I would ignore it as my mom would advise me, however it didn’t take too long for me to be ashamed of something I could not change. The way people spoke to me made me hate myself. They made me hate my DNA. They made me hate my culture. I was so ashamed to be Latina. All I wanted was to fit in. 

I would even stay indoors during the summers so that my skin could be pale. I thought that if I were paler I could pass as white and the bullying would stop. Day by day endured this burden. 

And when I would report to a teacher, no action was ever taken. As a first Gen student, it was very easy to see the difference in how much the staff wanted to see others succeed more. When it came to applying to college, other students had the full support of their guidance counselors. I walked into my guidance counselor’s office and she just gave me a list of colleges and universities I could not get into. She basically told me to not bother applying. I had a 3.7 GPA. I didn’t listen to her. She was unwilling to help me so i took it upon myself and was accepted to 14 schools. 

When speaking to my other Latinx friends from the district, they went through similar experiences. We had to figure stuff out on our own as no one cared about us enough. If it wasn’t for staff like Dr. Brenner looking out for her own community, some of us would have never made it to college. Carmel schools tend to push their Hispanic students to go to BOCES and learn a trade rather than go to college. Although there is nothing wrong with going to BOCES, it would be nice for Carmel to actually support their Latinx students in furthering their education.