Photo Courtesy of Julie Drake/Valley Press
The mother of a Black child who attends Desert Willow Fine Arts Science and Technical Magnet Academy within the Palmdale, California School District has filed a claim alleging a teacher launched a racist attack via a Zoom call in January, the Los Angeles Times reported
.Katura Stokes filed the claim on behalf of her 12-year old son against his science teacher, Kimberly Newman, whom Stokes called on to assist with the COVID-19-related online learning
format. After being reassured that her son was doing well, Stokes claims the call took on a different tone.Newman thought she ended the call, but Stokes and her son overheard the woman go into a racist rant against, including both racist language and expletives. She recorded the tirade and called the school principal, Neil Gehlawat, so he could hear the racist vitriol as well.
In the five and half minutes of the video Stokes’ attorney shared, Newman, can be heard telling her housemate, “These parents, that’s what kind of pieces of s**t they are. She’s Black. They’re a Black family.”
She continued, “Your son has learned to lie to everybody and make excuses because you taught him to make excuses. That nothing is his fault. This is what Black people do. White people do it too, but Black people do it way more.”
On the call, Newman appeared to see her interaction with Stokes as a personal victory telling her housemate, “I just burned her. I f*****g burned her.”
Gehlawat notified Newman that she was overheard on Zoom and asked if she had made the remarks he heard. She said that she did not; he told KTLA. After his conversation with Newman, he called the district office to have her placed on administrative leave pending an investigation. Newman, instead, resigned.
The district has 45 days to answer Stokes’ claim, after which she must file a lawsuit within six months.
This is not the first time teachers in Palmdale’s school district have exhibited racist behaviors. In 2019, a principal took a photo circulated on social media of four elementary school teachers smiling and holding a noose. The teachers claimed the incident had nothing to do with race but was a message to “hang in there until summer.” All four were placed on administrative leave, and the principal resigned for her part.
The district’s Black students make up about 20% of the student population.