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PUSD family holds rally at district office over racial inequality

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The National Action Network’s San Diego chapter held a press conference and rally at the Poway Unified School District’s district office on Wednesday, where a small assembled group chanted “no justice, no peace” and called for an end to racial inequality in the district.

The group, which was led by the Rev. Shane Harris, who is head of the San Diego chapter of the National Action Network, included Chris and Kim Garnier, who have clashed several times with the school district over issues of perceived racial inequality and have been frequent critics of the district and Supt. John Collins.

“We are not going to stand for the inequality of the Poway Unified School District,” said Harris at the press conference. “We want justice. If we don’t get justice, then you will get no peace.”

Harris said he and the National Action Network, which was founded by the Rev. Al Sharpton, are tired of seeing minorities being discounted and forgotten about in schools. “We are standing for racial equality in the school system,” he said.

Harris said he was calling out to the district for a meeting, especially with School Board President Michelle O’Connor-Ratcliff, who he said he has reached out to many times and never received a response.

Harris said he will do “whatever it takes” to get the district to meet with him and the Garniers, even if it meant bringing in the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). “The National Action Network is not going to stand for inequality,” said Harris.

Harris said his main focus is the Poway Unified School District, but will also be working to fight racial inequality across school districts in North County, including in Escondido and Oceanside.

Harris and the NAN will be holding a community forum focused on discussing racial inequality in education in North County sometime in the next 2 to 3 months. The forum will seek input not just from fellow black community members, but all minorities.

The press conference ended with the participants walking to the district office and demanding that O’Connor-Ratcliff meet with Harris and the NAN. Harris said the demand was a success and he would give O’Connor-Ratcliff a couple of weeks to respond, before returning with even more people.

Chris Garnier also spoke at the press conference and rally, saying the biggest thing he and his family were standing for is inclusion.

“We need inclusion (in the school district),” he said.

Garnier’s fight against the district began in late 2014, after he was temporarily banned from volunteering at Painted Rock Elementary School, where his two young children attended. Garnier was accused by district officials of making verbal threats against school employees and exhibiting menacing behavior. In February 2015, the ban from the school campus was extended to three years.

Garnier denied the allegations and said he was being discriminated against because he is an African-American.

Christine Paik, spokeswoman and communications manager for PUSD, said that this isn’t the case. “The workplace violence restraining order against Mr. Garner is not rooted in racism, as he claims. The order is based on verbal threats and menacing behavior he exhibited at Painted Rock Elementary, which a judge upheld. Mr. Garnier has not been restrained from speaking at board meetings, and has freely done so, and the district continues to listen,” she said in a statement.

Paik also commented on the district’s diversity and commitment to nondiscrimination.

“The district is committed to an active nondiscrimination program. PUSD also prohibits discrimination, harassment, and bullying based on perceived ancestry, age, color, disability, gender, gender identity, gender expression, nationality, race or ethnicity, religion, sex, or sexual orientation,” said Paik. “In fact, our district is diverse, from top administration to our student population. All three of our associate superintendents are women, two of whom are women of color. Malliga Tholandi is Indian American and Mel Robertson is Filipino American.”

Paik said that principals are provided with a yearly cultural observances calendar and events and activities are scheduled to celebrate them, including Black History Month, which the district is observing with theater performances, essay contests, and guest speakers from the civil rights movement.

The Garniers and their family have since made repeated requests for Collins to be fired. Garnier’s father-in-law, Keith Wilson, has also headed up a recall effort to recall 20-year board member Andy Patapow, whose term is up in November, for his part in issuing the controversial CABs.

Garnier also cited several examples of racial violence seen on PUSD campuses over the years, including the vandalism of a Rancho Bernardo High School van with a racist epithet in 2013 and the presence of a Confederate flag and several nooses on the campus of Poway High School in 2015 following the racially-motivated shootings in South Carolina.

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