Educators say librarians’ class won’t be repeated

By Emily Richmond

Friday, Feb. 6, 2004 | 10:49 a.m.

Clark County School District officials say a "well-intentioned but misguided" attempt by a librarian to teach third graders about racism won't be repeated.

Lora Mazzulla, a librarian at Manch Elementary School in Las Vegas, divided students by race Tuesday for a classroom exercise. Black children were allowed to play while the white children had to put their heads down on the library tables, Marsha Irvin, superintendent of the district's northeast region, said.

After several parents called the school to complain, an assistant principal spoke with Mazzulla and ordered her to stop conducting the lesson, Irvin said.

"(Mazzulla) had good intentions to try and get the point across, but the way she did it was not appropriate," Irvin said. "When you're teaching something that could be perceived as controversial you need to provide parental notification."

Role playing can have a place in the classroom with certain conditions, Irvin said.

"You have to make sure you're laying the appropriate foundation so that children are prepared and understand they are taking part in an exercise," Irvin said. "I'm not sure third grade was the right place to experiment with something like this."

Mazzulla could not be reached for comment this morning.

Manch Principal Pat Garcia said Mazzulla was "devastated" by the fallout of her lesson. Mazzula had hoped to teach the children about segregation as part of their lessons for Black History Month, Garcia said.

"It was never her intention to hurt or harm anyone," Garcia said. "Academics are important but so is the emotional growth of our students. We're all very sorry at how this turned out."

Garcia, who has been an educator for 36 years, said she knows of teachers in the past who have used a similar exercise to demonstrate the effects of segregation. In those instances teachers separated students into groups based on eye color or clothing.

"How the teacher divided them up made all the difference in the world," Garcia said. "Handled correctly, it can be very effective."

The school's counselor is aware of the situation and will talk to any third graders or parents who have concerns, Garcia said.

Christopher Kearney, a psychology professor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, said Mazzulla's lesson would have been better served if the children had been divided randomly, rather than by skin color.

"The idea was good but the way she distinguished the children was not the best judgment," Kearney said.

Kearney said he still remembers in the 1960s, when his primary school teacher divided the class into two groups as a way of teaching about segregation. The "inferior" group had to wait to sit down and do the "superior" group's homework, Kearney said.

"It was a fascinating week -- we had to wear signs around our necks that said 'Inferior,'1" Kearney said. "I got more out of it looking back than at the time. At that age we too young to appreciate the message. We weren't really aware of world events."