NYC Ed Dept. eyes charge kids bullied, 1 beaten (called "cracker" and "white boy,")

NY Daily News ^ | 10.10.05 | KATHLEEN LUCADAMO

[Coleus]

Ed Dept. eyes charge
kids bullied, 1 beaten

Students victims of race hate, mom sez

 

Lisa Brown moved from Oklahoma so that her two sons, Sloan (l.) and J.T. and her daughter Robbie could experience diversity in Brooklyn.

City education officials are investigating the claims of a pair of boys from Oklahoma who moved to Brooklyn to experience diversity, and instead say they got schooled in racism and violence.

Mom Lisa Brown, 33, told the Daily News she relocated her family from their small Oklahoma town so her husband, a Brooklyn native and social worker, could more easily find work and her sons could experience different people and ways of life.

Brown enrolled her sons, Sloan, 12, and J.T., 13, at Ebbets Field Middle School in Crown Heights. But when the boys, who are white, showed up, their mom said, they got a chilling indication of what was to come.

"Oh my gosh, we are going to have fun this year," a security guard muttered, according to Brown.

Things quickly got worse.

Sloan was beaten mercilessly, called "cracker" and "white boy," and chased into traffic by his new classmates, his family said.

The abuse got so bad that Sloan routinely bolted out of the building to find his brother and run to a nearby subway, dodging verbal and physical attacks, he said.

"It almost makes me cry," Sloan said. "I'm scared to go back."

The brothers skipped school all last week while their parents tried to sort out the mess.

"Do I have to send the National Guard in to get my children an education?" asked the distraught mom.

When Brown tried to alert Principal Marge Baker to the abuse, "the principal refused to take the calls," she charged.

Brown filed several police reports at the 71st Precinct stationhouse about the alleged abuse, but said she was ignored.

Police sources said precinct cops did take the incident seriously but believe school staff are in a better position to deal with what appeared to be a series of schoolyard fights and bullying.

The boys' stepfather, Ken Brown, requested a transfer for the boys on Sept. 28, but Education Department officials noted he can't seek the change because he is not a custodial parent.

Eventually, the fedup mom went to nearby Elijah Stroud Middle School to transfer her sons there, but said the principal told her: "They'll have the same problem here."

Education officials promised to help the Browns - after being contacted by The News.

"The principal was not sufficiently attentive to this situation," the Education Department said in a statement. "Upon learning of the situation, the region is taking immediate action to arrange a transfer for these children.

"We will fully investigate what happened, including whether racist statements, which are not tolerated, were made and take appropriate action."

Brown said the Education Department called her several times over the weekend, after The News made queries, pledging to get the kids into Elijah Stroud and chastising her for calling in the press.

Despite the principal's warning, Lisa agreed to send her boys to Elijah Stroud tomorrow.

"I'll make sure my kids are safe because it is the school system's job to make sure they are," she said.

For Sloan and J.T., escaping Ebbets Field Middle School will be a relief. The school opened in September as one of the city's many new small schools, with plans to "become the crown jewel" of Crown Heights, according to the Education Department Web site.

The Browns said their ethnically and racially diverse neighbors in Prospect Heights have embraced them, and they thought New York was "the greatest place on Earth" - until they started battling the school system.

"I was excited to expose my children to a complete variety of people," Lisa Brown said. "I thought it would be an advantage. I always told my children that children could be cruel - but not to this extent."

[Vision Thing]

Just refrain from making the mistake of placing all the blame on the parents, no matter how stupid we may think they are.

Also, I wouldn't even blame it on NYC itself for being "the most ruthless city on the planet."

We can only blame some bad individuals who physically and verbally abused the children.

[Dan from Michigan]

"I'll make sure my kids are safe because it is the school system's job to make sure they are," she said.

That's your job and dad's job.

Here's some free advice. If you're going to send them to an urban public school in Crown Heights of all places, you better also sign them up for fighting training from someone like Chuck Lidell - they'll need it.

[PAR35]

Don't forget this is NOT DU! :)

Yes, but the 'no racist posts' part can be strictly enforced. I didn't consider my post out of line, but it might have drawn a tap of the abuse button by some reader. I might as well save the Mod the trouble of having to deal with it.

[durasell]

You miss NYC. Giant gin martini in the noisy bar at Peter Luger's, followed by a slab of aged beef, apple pie with real whipped cream. Black car back to Manhattan to walk it off on Fifth Avenue from 42 to 57 and a night cap at one of the few dark neighborhood bars still in existance on the upper east side.

[Clemenza]

Chuck the Iceman bump!

[sageb1]

"1. They weren't that bright and were more interested in sports than learning.

2. They had no class, and every other word out of their mouth was sh-t or f-ck.

3. They acted like thugs, despite coming from two parent homes."

Just out of curiosity, can you tell me what years you went to school?

[Ron in Acreage]

They call it the 6th borough here.

[durasell]

NYC is the environment. The school, the neighborhood are the environment. Very simply, in NYC you either adapt to the environment, leave altogether or get hurt.

[Clemenza]

This was from 1981-1988. After that, it was classier areas and private high school.

[durasell]

NYC is the environment. The school, the neighborhood are the environment. Very simply, in NYC you either adapt to the environment, leave altogether or get hurt.

[AmericanDave]

One good thing, these kids WILL NOT GROW UP TO BE LIBERALS...they now know the REAL score, and that their parents are full of Shiite......

[Clemenza]

Clarke's baby. As long as Clarke's stands, the Upper East Side will not become another SoHo (I'm exagerrating, I know).

[Vision Thing]

Yup. Individual responsibility doesn't count in NYC. It's all about the envrironment.

[durasell]

Clarke's. Though you are probably too young to remember Runyon's.

[Rembrandt]

"NYC has been threatened with subway bombings and these people are worried about a little hazing?"

I agree with you but you left one category out. The one, single category that's ok to discriminate against is WHAM's (invented term from a great American - Bill Cunningham). A WHAM is a white, hetero-sexual, able bodied, male. I you are outside of any of those categories, you are a protected class. If you fall into those 4 categories, you're discriminated in college admissions policies, in promotions in the business world, in the treatment by the media, by the race pimps and on and on. Thanks for your post.

[durasell]

It's your responsibility to navigate the environment. It's all individual responsibility.

[AmericanDave]

Only everywhere I've heard personal experiences of..... But in the movies it all works out ok though...

[Clemenza]

So tough, that you fled to Staten Island, along with the other "Chicken Cacciatores." ;-)

[sageb1]

"This was from 1981-1988."

These were the years of the second exodus from traditional stay-at-home motherhood. This was when this country began to see an irreversible problem with middle and upper-middle class white kids.