Educational Racial Justice For Norman Public Schools, a group aimed at bringing attention to reported incidents of racism and negative experiences in the school system, outlined demands for NPS in an Instagram post.
The demands included ending the student resource officer program, teaching an instate ethnic studies program, providing a student resource coordinator for Black, Indigenous and students of color and requiring diversity and inclusion training for faculty and staff.
According to The Norman Transcript, the district’s school resource officer program has placed Norman police officers in NPS schools for the past four years. Currently, nine officers serve in the district.
In an Instagram message to The Daily, the account wrote it’s a “collective” of NPS alumni and high school students that experienced or are currently experiencing racism and racial violence from faculty, administration and SROs.
The account’s posts feature anonymous users allegedly affiliated with NPS sharing their experiences using a Google form linked in the account’s bio.
“Throughout elementary school, I was mistreated for being a foreigner. Students called me names, and parents assumed I didn’t speak English,” one post read. “I was bullied relentlessly, and administrators did nothing but sit back and watch.”
Another post detailed the experience of an anonymous former Madison Elementary School student. According to the post, the student was once called an “extremely racist nickname” by another student during fifth-grade attendance, and the teacher laughed.
Another group, the Norman Collective for Racial Justice, has also spoken against SROs. According to a document created by the group, Black students are over three times more likely to be named in an SRO reporting incident. The guide also reports Black students are almost five times more likely to be contacted by the NPD for truancy despite making up 6 percent of the NPS population.
“We hope to educate the community about racial disparities within the district and mobilize them to help make a change,” the account wrote.
