School Board hears calls for diversity training after incident

Endea Dawson walked into her English class at Boulder City High School on May 8 and was greeted by a student drawing of a "black man hanging from a noose on a tree," her mother, Shawnnyce Dawson, told the Clark County School Board on Thursday.

Endea, 16, who is black, was upset by the image and called her mother. But instead of removing the "class approved" drawing, which was submitted by a student as a class project, school staff were indifferent and gave her the runaround, Shawnnyce Dawson said.

Tensions escalated after her call for the drawing to be removed, Shawnnyce Dawson said, and led to Endea getting slugged in the face by another girl a few days later. Staff then began escorting minority students from class to class.

"I honestly don't believe my students are learning in a safe and respectful learning environment, which is what the school system says it will provide," said Shawnnyce Dawson, the mother of three teenage daughters.

Richard Boulware, a member of the Las Vegas chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, said tensions are high at the school, where blacks represent 3 percent of the student body.

"Boulder City High School is basically a tinder box waiting to explode," he said.

Many speakers during the public comment period of the School Board meeting said that training on diversity and cultural awareness is needed at the school. And NAACP members vowed to keep up their pressure on the school until things change.

"We're not going away," said Elaine Johnson, Las Vegas NAACP education chairman.

Mary Beth Scow, the School Board president, acknowledged that trustees were aware of the incident and concerned by it.

Andre Denson, the regional superintendent who oversees Boulder City High School, said "non-African Americans" also had been offended by the lynching picture.

Pat Skorkowsky, an associate superintendent, said in an interview: "We will not tolerate any racial harassment or inappropriate behavior on campus."

Otherwise, school officials were tight-lipped, citing confidentiality rules and an ongoing district investigation.

Some parents and students at the high school, speaking anonymously, said in interviews that at least five students were recommended for expulsion because of incidents related to the drawing.

Shawnnyce Dawson said students were asked to write epitaphs for dead characters from the classic epic poem "Spoon River Anthology" by Edgar Lee Masters. She said she did not see a connection between the poem and the drawing -- she was unaware of a lynching in the poem.

One student said the picture was not intended to depict a black man, but it was perceived that way because it was drawn on brown paper.

Shawnnyce Dawson said her daughter Endea has received permission to attend a study hall instead of her English class because of the tensions over the incident.

Contact reporter James Haug at jhaug @reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4686.