One teacher reported that the N-word was written on the classroom wall for the fifth consecutive year.
Another teacher’s inbox contained the message: “I really hate you, [N-word]. Black is ugly, and so are you.”
A student addressed a teacher by shouting “stupid [N-word] four times,” but when the teacher issued a two-day suspension, the principal returned the student to the classroom with no consequences, according to an account shared at an online forum over the summer.
After complaints such as these from Black teachers about students routinely hurling racist insults, especially the N-word, the Los Angeles Unified School District will strengthen measures to track such incidents and respond to them.
Too often, say teachers and advocates, nothing happens. Or worse, teachers are reprimanded or face retaliation for being complainers, such as being written up or getting worse class assignments.
Students, too, are targeted with racist language.
“Black students … have told me that they’ve been called the N-word, a monkey and other degrading names,” Shelly Castillo, a San Fernando Middle School history teacher, said at Tuesday’s school board meeting. “They don’t report it a lot because they have not been believed, and they’ve been targeted or isolated.”
Citing “the centuries-long legacy of anti-Black racism, violence, discrimination, and intimidation,” the Board of Education unanimously passed a resolution Tuesday calling for heightened student counseling related to the N-word and other hate speech, as well as staff training on responding to the incidents and reporting them. And staff must report back to the board in March on the progress made.
The resolution, which was brought forward by board members Karla Griego, Sherlett Hendy Newbill and Kelly Gonez, grew out of meetings that Gonez held with advocates. LAUSD’s student population is about 7% Black.
“I have been in conversation with Black educators in my board district for over a year, and I want to just acknowledge that they are here in the room with us,” Gonez said. “And I so appreciate their urgency — that even though we have strong policies and protections in place, we needed to do more.”
The N-word has come up recently at Los Angeles City Hall. In July 2025, the City Council banned the N-word and the sexist vulgarity known as the C-word during public comment. A lawsuit over free speech has challenged that rule.
The issue at schools is somewhat different. Students on grade-school campuses have free speech rights but they are more limited than for adults. And schools have broad powers to address bullying and mete out punishment.
Many N-word incidents
At the July public forum, Rev. James Thomas read aloud accounts related by teachers.
“Three male students came to my door during nutrition and called me the N-word and a black B,” one teacher recounted. “The N-word [was] written on my desk. I introduced myself to the class, and a student yelled out [N-word] three times.”
When the teacher reported the incident, the administrator was unwilling to take action, according to the account.
“As a Black man from top to bottom, I don’t like when people try to explain what we’re dealing with. So I’m here to tell you here and now: The [N-word] is not acceptable,” Bruce Gerard Brown Jr., who teaches multiple subjects at San Fernando High School, told the school board Tuesday. “Let’s not relegate it to a bad word. It is a slur.”
In her comments to the school board, Denisha Jordan recounted racism, including the N-word, that she endured both as a child and as a teacher. She said her daughter had similar experiences: “Like the time when she told me about a joke that she heard in school. ‘How do you save a Black kid from drowning? You don’t.’”
Resolution a starting point
A coalition of groups, including Black Educator Advocates Network, Community Coalition, Watts of Power Foundation and Black Teacher Project, wrote in support of the resolution: “Black teachers and students deserve to teach and learn in environments where their identities are respected, their dignity is protected, and their safety is prioritized.”
But the final version of the resolution was weaker than some advocates wanted.
For one thing, it focuses on hate speech of all kinds, substantially echoing language in existing district policies. It mainly addresses harm to students and says comparatively little about educators.
Also, attempts to hold students accountable are entirely within the context of the district’s “restorative justice” approach to discipline and its policy to virtually eliminate suspensions. In restorative justice, students are supposed to learn why their actions were inappropriate and, ideally, make amends. But they don’t necessarily face outright punishment.
“This should not open the door for punitive actions against our students,” board member Griego said. “Students must be educated in order to understand the implications and harm of especially the use of the N-word and other racial slurs.”
Board member Tanya Ortiz Franklin proposed family workshops to explain why the word is treated as hate speech in school.
Hendy Newbill, the board’s only Black member, pledged that the resolution would not be empty rhetoric.
“When an incident happens, there must be a response,” she said. “When a policy is not followed, there must be accountability. And when we identify a problem, there must be follow-through.”
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