An 18-sec clip shows Fresno Middle School Vice Principal, Joe DiFilippo, saying "I just don't like black kids".
A family member of the student at Scandinavian Middle School posted the video to YouTube under the heading: “Scandinavian Vice Principal caught on camera by my nephew talking to black students and telling them he does not like black kids.”
Vice-Principal, DiFilippo has worked at Fresno Unified for 18 years and has been at Scandinavian Middle School — where 11% of students are black — since August 2010. District officials were made aware of the video after a parent tipped off administrators at the middle school.
A family member of the student at Scandinavian Middle School posted the video to YouTube under the heading: “Scandinavian Vice Principal caught on camera by my nephew talking to black students and telling them he does not like black kids.”
Vice-Principal, DiFilippo has worked at Fresno Unified for 18 years and has been at Scandinavian Middle School — where 11% of students are black — since August 2010. District officials were made aware of the video after a parent tipped off administrators at the middle school.
“Fresno Unified is among the most diverse school districts in the nation and takes great pride in celebrating its diversity while providing a positive learning environment for all students and staff,” the district said
“It is never appropriate for school staff who are tasked with educating our youth to say they do not like kids of a particular race,” ACLU of Northern California staff attorney Novella Coleman told the Fresno Bee adding, “School administrators and teachers’ attitude toward students of a particular race inevitably affects their expectations of students’ educational achievement and students’ access to equal educational opportunities.”
What will become of this Vice Principal is unknown at this moment. But this represents a larger issue in not only our school system but in larger American Society. Students come to school to learn not be faced with discriminatory feelings and most likely actions resulting from it when they attend school.
Let's keep the conversations flowing: Can an official hold discriminatory and racist feelings but fail to act on them? What are your feelings on the students and the Vice Principal in this story.
What will become of this Vice Principal is unknown at this moment. But this represents a larger issue in not only our school system but in larger American Society. Students come to school to learn not be faced with discriminatory feelings and most likely actions resulting from it when they attend school.
Let's keep the conversations flowing: Can an official hold discriminatory and racist feelings but fail to act on them? What are your feelings on the students and the Vice Principal in this story.
Written By: Lauren B I @laurenbeal