The Oak Harbor school district is investigating an allegation of an inappropriate social media interaction between a paraeducator at an elementary school and a recent graduate over issues of police brutality.
A district spokesperson said the the schools were notified about the incident Monday morning. The district’s human resources department is gathering the facts and reviewing the incident.
“Any allegation regarding inappropriate staff behavior, whether in person or online, is taken seriously and investigated thoroughly,” according to a statement released by the district.
The Facebook interaction between the paraeducator and former student was posted and reposted on social media as protests continue across the nation over the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police officers.
In the Facebook posts, the recent graduate is discussing the Black Lives Matter protests and points to #Bluefall, a hashtag on Twitter where people are posting videos of police brutality against protesters.
The paraeducator responded to the post by saying that the student can keep “addin all this (explicative)” but she won’t change her opinion.
The former student responds by saying the paraeducator is blind, writing that 40 percent of police officers are perpetrators of domestic violence and “the other 60% stand by and let it happen.”
The paraeducator responded by telling the former student she “can now go (explicative) herself,” that the younger woman doesn’t allow other people to have opinions and she hopes the young woman will never need to call the police.
The statistics about 40 percent of police officers perpetrating domestic violence is from a couple of studies done during the early 1990s.
The New York Times reported that, since then, police organizations have conspicuously stopped keeping statistics about officers involvement in domestic violence and that no large-scale credible studies have been done, though smaller studies found that officers are less likely to be convicted than civilians accused of domestic violence.
In the statement, Oak Harbor school district officials say they do not condone efforts to silence the voices of those who are protesting or those who want to share their experiences or perspective.
The statement says the district stands by families and students, “especially the black families, during this time of intense emotion and oftentimes fear.” The district supports the students, families and communities of color and remains “committed to transforming the landscape of the schools and community through a lens of equity.”
“We are eager to hear more from the often oppressed voices in Oak Harbor; to listen to their stories and learn from their experiences,” according to the statement.
“One of the many avenues to share these stories is through peaceful protests and gatherings as well as through social media. There are thousands of protests nationwide providing communities of color a voice to the masses. We are listening and supporting their right to protest and share their experiences and perspectives.”
