More than 27,000 people have signed a petition defending principal Carol Fong who has been at Ulloa Elementary in San Francisco for 20 years, reports the San Francisco Chronicle.
Fong acknowledges using the N-word several times while disciplining students and attempting to teach them the danger of the slur.
KCBS reports it happened in January while speaking to a class following a fight between two students when the N-word was used.
Representatives of the African American community filed a complaint calling for zero tolerance of staff who use the word.
Fong apologized for her actions in a letter to parents.
“I am truly sorry that the use of the N-word has caused harm to this community. I understand that the word is toxic to our families and it triggers horrific experiences for some,” Fong said in the letter. “It is a harmful word used to demean a whole group of people by the color of their skin. I am aware that I have made a mistake and I would like to sincerely apologize for this action.”
The Black community has not called for her resignation or firing, but have complained their voices are being “drowned out” in the process and urged the district to “listen to Black families.”
Ulloa Elementary parents are protesting the decision to reassign Fong.
“It is my job to think about the best interests of Ulloa students,” said Superintendent Vince Matthews about Fong’s removal to the Chronicle. “The community will be involved in selecting a new permanent principal for Ulloa.”
Parents said they feel blindsided.
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Every concerned voter should be outraged at Principal Fong’s removal. Dick Gregory word a book entitled the N word to disempower the word. Banning words used in a correct context is like banning a book. After 20 years of valiant service this is a disgrace. Marcy Dunne BALLARD
Retired teacher, retired AFT leader
Labor management consultant
You must be kidding? I have 5 children and three of them were unfortunate enough to attend the Ulloa School. Now that I am studying EdD Doctorate degree in Education, I am here to tell you that Carol Fong is being studied as being the tyrant that she is. Finally, after years of complaints at SFUSD, Fong is receiving the justice that she deserves. She should have been gone a long time ago. I complained at the district, and nothing was done. I am a British American White Female and a Human & Civil Rights Advocate. That’s right….white and standing up for Brown and Black Lives Matter! Because Carol Fong is Wrong and has been for many years. I know many people who remember why they left Ulloa School for the private sector. All of these families were of color and white…the words said to me as they left…”if we were Asian, we would be fine…but we are not and I can’t watch my children suffer anymore at the hands of this ethnocentric and prejudice school.”
Now that I am an empowered writer, and my children are safely away from the district by aging out, I am able to speak freely about the treatment that my family received with great detriment as endured. She is definitely in my book as the horrible person who changed my children as the valuable people they are and forever.
Carol Fong only seems to care for students that are Asian. She made it clear that the Asian families could travel during school without repercussions, while Middle Eastern Families were not even allowed to honor Muslim Holidays with days off of school. My daughter was ill and hospitalized and I was told that she would receive “unexcused absences” at the district level. I am a nurse who was working the night shift back in the 2010’s and was reprimanded by Fong for bringing my child 5 mins late for school one morning because I was detained at work for having lost one of my patients to death. But I was the wrong color. I watched Fong demonize Black Families by disrespecting them while one mother was coming to school each day with lunch for her son who had dietary concerns. As a nurse, I knew this mother, and informed her of her rights. We were volunteering together in the classroom (one Black mother and one White mother) when she cried to me about Fong’s treatment of her. One teacher of my daughter’s told me to “be careful where Fong is concerned as she is politically well connected.”
Alas, I was not the right color to be treated with any respect at all. The lottery system in SFUSD somehow made the school all Asian, specifically Chinese. I am all for equity and inclusion, but where is the inclusion when 99 percent of the school is any one race? This is San Francisco as fairly represented? It is not, but Fong was able to manipulate the lottery. She and SFUSD have been crooked for many years. I thought it particularly interesting how in 2014, when Leland Yee was brought in as a “Friend of Fong’s” when my children had to listen to him in an assembly….only a few days later…Yee was arrested after the FBI allegedly found fault with his criminal behaviors. “Allegedly” is used here…please don’t kill the messenger. And this gentleman is a great example for our children? Not in my family. Somehow I am unimpressed.
SFUSD lost my respect when Fong was allowed to continue to make the lives of the children and families at Ulloa pure hell and this definitely includes my family. I will never forget! I do not have to forget! And in spite of Fong’s ruthlessness, I rose above and became a voice myself. Ahhh…the power of the pen feels better than ever! Sorry Carol Fong and the 27,000 followers that she has brainwashed! I am going to continue to speak out against Fong!
Her service is not valiant as Ballard states here. It is just that the history is not well known to the younger parents of today.
Finally, Carol Fong has been disempowered for all of the hurt families that endured her over the last few decades! Justice has been served!