Las Vegas Review-Journal (Sunday)
Arbor View has racism repeat in message on bathroom wall
A message “with racial implications” was discovered at Arbor View High School this week, according to a letter to families from Clark County School District Superintendent Jesus Jara and Trustee Chris Garvey.
Students reported seeing racist graffiti on a bathroom wall at the northwest valley school Wednesday. The letter states that the district’s crisis response team had been made aware of the incident and will work with school administrators to offer services to students who saw the message.
The message comes nearly a year after the arrests of two Arbor View students over racial threats posted on social media in March. In the wake of those threats, the school district moved to partner with a national equity organization to improve the cultural climate at the school.
Since April, training has been provided by the Anti-Defamation League and the National Equity Project, with a session as recently as January and more training planned for the future, according to Jara and Garvey’s message.
The school has also implemented a number of changes in an attempt to stop hate-motivated incidents. Those steps include tolerance lessons during advisory periods and professional development focused on inclusion and implicit bias, the letter states.
“Once again, we want the community to know that these actions will not be tolerated and CCSD will continue to work to provide an inclusive learning community for all students,” the letter states. “We ask the community in joining us to condemn these actions.”
On Thursday, Jara also tweeted an acknowledgment that “unacceptable messages” had been reported at Arbor View.
He said the school district is working with Principal Kevin McPartlin, the community and Garvey “to investigate and continue the efforts to improve the culture on campus to make sure every student feels welcome and accepted.”