Santa Barbara Unified School District high school students are reporting a rise in racial slurs being used across the campuses.

At a June 9 school board meeting, a number of Black students spoke out about students using slurs like the N-word and shared frustrations with how staff and administration has responded.

Iris Sejour, a Dos Pueblos High School student, spoke about how a staff member treated the N-word as “just a fine in a swear jar.”

Sejour claimed that administration “initially hesitated,” called the incident “tricky” and denied the Black Student Union’s offer to lead the response to the incident.

“Black students do not feel safe here, and I’ve personally lost friends who moved away because of it,” Sejour said. 

The district’s spokesperson, Ed Zuchelli, said the incident was handled following HR protocols.

“We want to state clearly: No student should ever feel unsafe, unwelcome or unprotected on our campuses,” Zuchelli said. “Hearing about our Black students hurting is concerning, and we take their experiences to heart. Whenever we learn of instances that do not uphold our beliefs and policies, administrators take action to address them, whether at the student-to-student or staff level.”

He added that the district is committed to ensuring the wellbeing of every student. 

Sejour also spoke about how San Marcos High School offers Black studies but Dos Pueblos doesn’t.

In 2020 the school board passed a resolution in support of the Black Lives Matter movement and took action on student demands that included implementing anti-bias training for staff, equitable hiring practices, and ethnic classes with culturally relevant curriculum. 

Yeko Vallete, a Dos Pueblos junior, current historian for the Black Student Union and next year’s president, said despite the school’s stated commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion, racial harassment has not gotten better since her freshman year. 

She claimed that last year, two Black students were repeatedly called the N-word by a white student who later made “monkey noises” at the students in the halls. 

“Students at DP and all over the district have gotten used to being constantly harassed in an environment where the only thing they should be worried about is their homework or a test that’s coming up,” Vallete said. “Instead of being worried about missing assignments, Black students have to be worried about being harassed for the simple act of their existence.”

She also said that students are afraid to speak up about the harassment and that administration responds in a way that makes the school look good, not in a way that has a positive resolution to the harm made to students. 

“The color of our skin should not be a target placed on our back,” Vallete said.

A’xela Ritchie, a recent graduate and former president of the Black Student Union at Santa Barbara High School, presented a list of demands that included a zero-tolerance policy for the use of the N-word on campus by all non-Black students and appropriate action taken against racial harassment including parent and guardian notification of all students involved. 

Additionally she demanded that the students responsible complete a reflection assignment or essay explaining the harm that the N-word and racist behavior has on the Black community. 

For those who demonstrate repeated racist behavior, Ritchie said they should face removal from extracurricular activities, detention, suspension, and further administrative consequences.

She also advocated that the history behind the N-word and the impact on the Black community be taught in English courses in seventh and ninth grade, and that curriculum include Black representation throughout the school year.

Leticia Forney Resch, the co-executive director of Healing Justice Santa Barbara, said students have reported the N-word being used “casually” by non-Black students and an increase in reports of racial harassment involving the N-word.

“The normalization or racial slurs underscores a lack of empathy and understanding for the impact these words have on Black students,” Resch said. “Allowing these derogatory behaviors shows the systemic and cultural problem that this is unique to Santa Barbara, where the racism is tolerated and ignored.”

Healing Justice Santa Barbara is entering its fourth year of partnership with the school district. The organization supports Black students through mentorships, taking them on college tours, and connecting with peers.

Board Member Gabe Escobedo reflected on work done since a racial climate assessment was completed in 2023. At the time, he said the district would need to keep the momentum going and further deal with systemic anti-Blackness in the schools. 

He acknowledged that some work has been done with creating the district’s Committee Advancing Black Achievement, Wellness, and Excellence (CABAWE), whose ideas align with or are similar to ideas brought up by the Black Student Union.

“This board, as it changes, as it moves forward, as it evolves, even this board now, we have to recommit, and this district needs to recommit, to the promise that we made three and a half years ago,” Escobedo said. 

He added that the district should engage with Black students on new tools and policies to address systemic racism.

“It’s not easy work, it’s not quick work, it doesn’t happen in one fell swoop and there is no one silver bullet,” Escobedo said.

Superintendent Hilda Maldonado said while there are systems in place to deal with racial harassment, the district needs to change up and refresh that work. 

“I want to make a continued commitment on how we need to all work to support our Black and African American students and all our students,” Maldonado said. “And when these issues arise, we will use those systems of investigation, but more importantly support and repair the students, to help those in times of need.”