An attorney hired by a school district in Wisconsin has substantiated racism, homophobic and harassment claims made by an Asian American family against Wausau East, reports the Daily Herald.
Manee and Twan Vongphakdy alleged their son’s band teacher directed racist and homophobic slurs against him. The district had earlier investigated and confirmed that Robert Perkin’s language was unprofessional and insensitive, but it ruled that it did not rise to the level of discrimination and harassment.
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The recent report by attorney Alana Leffler blamed both the school district and the principal, Deb Foster, for a “lack of urgency in following up with the family and not developing a safety plan.”
The district announced Thursday that Foster would no longer be the principal at the school and had been reassigned to other administrative duties.
In June, the band teacher resigned over the controversy.
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The investigation confirmed Perkins used terms that resembled anti-Asian slurs such as “ching” or “jing” when replicating the sound of a cymbal in front of the Vongphakdys son.
“Perkins admitted to making that joke in response to students using the word instead of addressing it as a harassment issue,” said Elisabeth Lambert who has been representing the Vongphakdy family. “He did not report it, he did not treat the use of that slur as a problem.”
Perkins was also found to have charged the boy in the hallway in a threatening manner.
He was also found to have made insensitive comments towards students with disabilities and did not report hearing a Black student being referred to as a “dirty monkey.”
In a written statement, the Vongphakdys son said “I hope the closed-minded and the ignorant can learn from such experiences, as they shape the lives of children that will soon power this planet.”
He will be attending the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee this fall.
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