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A Black parent filed a civil rights lawsuit last week against the Los Angeles Unified School District and the Board of Education, saying that a cotton field was set up at an elementary school in 2017 that was intended to teach students about the experiences of slaves.

Rashunda Pitts said her 14-year-old daughter, who is referred to as “S.W.” in the lawsuit, experienced emotional distress as a result of the project at Laurel Span School that her social justice teacher said was to help students “gain a real-life experience as to what the African American slaves had endured.” The suit also names the school’s then-principal and social justice teacher as defendants. Since the project, Laurel Span School was closed, and a new school — Laurel Cinematic Arts Creative Tech Magnet — was created in its place.

Pitts said that in September 2017, she noticed her daughter had become “very quiet and reserved” when she used to “vibrantly share her day with her mother,” the lawsuit states.

One day, as Pitts was dropping off her daughter on campus, she saw a cotton field in front of the school and called the office to speak with the school’s principal, Amy Diaz, who was unavailable, according to the lawsuit. Pitts spoke with Assistant Principal Brian Wisniewski, who explained that S.W.’s class was reading Frederick Douglass’ autobiography and that the cotton field was created so students could have a “real life experience” of slavery, the lawsuit says.

After Pitts expressed her disappointment with the project, Wisniewski agreed and said the school’s principal would reach out to Pitts, the lawsuit states. Diaz listened to Pitts’ request for the cotton field to be taken down in 24 hours but said that the school couldn’t accommodate such a quick turnaround, saying it could aim for the end of the week or the following week, but couldn’t make any promises, according to the lawsuit.

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Source: Yahoo

The post Black Mother Sues Los Angeles Unified School District Over Cotton-picking Project at Elementary School appeared first on BCNN1 – Black Christian News Network.

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