Parent warns School Board of racial problems

By Emily Richmond (contact)

Friday, March 15, 2002 | 9:45 a.m.

The father of a Sierra Vista High School freshman said administrators are not doing enough to protect his daughter and other black students from ongoing, racially motivated harassment by a small group of their white classmates.

But Clark County School District officials, including Sierra Vista's principal, denied that there is a widespread problem at the southwest Las Vegas school and said the few students involved have been appropriately disciplined.

Nate Tolliver, whose 14-year-old daughter is on Sierra Vista's cheerleading squad, told the School Board Thursday he isn't satisfied that the harassment -- which has included name-calling and threats -- is being taken seriously.

"My daughter has nightmares, she's afraid to go to school," Tolliver said. "She misses her bus on purpose so that I'll have to drive her."

The School Board members should consider themselves put on notice, Tolliver said.

"If something happens, you won't be able to say you didn't know," Tolliver said.

Sierra Vista, which opened last August, has just under 1,100 students with room for another 1,500. About 38 percent of the students are minorities, according to district officials.

Tolliver's depiction of Sierra Vista's campus contrasted sharply with the environment described this morning by Principal William Garis.

"Nothing could be further from the truth," Garis said. "I tell all our parents to come visit the school, spend time on the campus and see for themselves. I'm not one to sweep things under the rug."

The central incident took place in the high school's cafeteria about three weeks ago, when a white student began taunting his daughter and two other girls, Tolliver said. The boy "said he wanted to kill all the black kids and any white kids who were friends with them," Tolliver said.

There were some "tense days" immediately following the cafeteria incident, but things have been calm in the weeks since, Garis said. Rather than call a schoolwide assembly to discuss the situation, Garis said he relied on individual teachers to talk with students. He has also talked with parents individually.

"Sometimes if you overact, all it does is incite more bad behavior," Garis siad.

The boy who taunted the girls in the cafeteria is no longer at the school, Garis said, who added that confidentiality rules prohibit him from saying whether the student was expelled.

"What I can say is that the most extreme action that can be taken has been taken," Garis said.

Getting rid of the "ringleader" was a start but doesn't solve the underlying problems, said Tolliver.

"Administrators at Sierra Vista have let this problem grow by saying the right things but actually doing nothing," Tolliver said. "You have to expose the ugliness behind this for what it is. Everyone's trying to write this off, saying these are just children."

School board trustee Shirley Barber, whose district includes the southwest region, said Thursday she, too, wanted more assurances that the problems at Sierra Vista were being appropriately handled.

"When I hear stories like this, I get angry, I get furious," Barber said.

Allen Coles, southwest regional superintendent, told the School Board the incident was being investigated and he believed administrators at the site had acted appropriately. Bullying or harassment of any kind won't be tolerated, said School District Superintendent Carlos Garcia.

"We take these kinds of thing extremely seriously, you can count on that," Garcia said Thursday.

Denise Rosettani, whose son is a freshman at Sierra Vista, also spoke to the School Board, saying she was frustrated and angry that the harassment has continued unchecked.

"There's a comfort level and a freedom at this school to use the 'N' word, it's used constantly," Rosettani said in an interview this morning. "It's disgusting and appalling."