SPOKANE, Wash. — A third-party investigation has revealed findings regarding an incident at Sacajawea Middle School in May 2021 where an administrator was accused of dismissing concerns about an assignment where Black students, among others in a social studies class, had to clean cotton.
Taylor Skidmore, Principal Assistant at Sacajawea Middle School, allegedly offered to remove the two students from their social studies class when their mother called to raise concerns about the lesson, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Washington said in a press release in May. The lesson that the 13-year-old twins, who are Black, took part in was "intended to simulate the experience of enslaved people," the ACLU press release said.
Previously, the twins' mother, claims Skidmore suggested that he could "segregate" her daughters from the class, which he said would allow them to avoid interacting with the teacher, who is white, according to the ACLU press release.
Attorney Onik'a Gilliam-Cathcart released a third-party investigative report on Friday, July 30 discussing her procedure and what she concluded from the investigation.
Gilliam-Cathcart interviewed several people involved with the case, including Principal Assistant Taylor Skidmore, the involved teacher, Special Education teacher Jenn Soter, Student Services Coordinator Erin Jordan and the father of the twins involved.
Based on the corroboration of these people, the investigation found that each student was provided cotton with the intention that they would experience difficulties with cleaning cotton prior to the invention of the cotton gin.
Additionally, "the activity was received by the students as some sort of competitive challenge to see who could complete it the fastest," according to the report. There was also a discussion about the historical consequences of not cleaning the cotton well and talking about how enslaved people would have been beaten and whipped, the investigation found.
One of the twins was noted to have completed the task the quickest. Two students made comments to the effect that they would have hated to have been slaves and/or Black and would have "killed" themselves, according to the report. The twins as a result were upset and disturbed.
However, the teachers were unaware of what the students had said or that the twins were upset, the report says.
Furthermore, Gilliam-Cathcart found that there was no evidence to support that the teacher intended to harm the twins. However, the lesson was very hard for the twins to process along with the added insensitivities from their classmates.
Gilliam-Cathcart also said in her report that "this lesson is routine" and the teacher may have not processed the connections the students were making and the twin's concern for replicating a "slave experience."
However, the twins had missed two of the three lessons prior to the lesson and were the only Black students present for the lesson itself. Because of this, the twins were shocked and unprepared. Gilliam-Cathcart said that even a black student who was prepared for the lesson confessed to finding the material "too much to process," according to the report.
The report found that Mr. Skidmore did not initiate a formal investigation and came to the defense of the teacher. Gilliam-Cathcart found that Mr. Skidmore offered to separate the girls from the rest of the class as an interim measure.
In regard to the discussion on whether Mr. Skidmore said "segregate" or "separate," Gilliam-Cathcart determined there is still no clarity as to what he said but it was in defense of the teacher.
Finally, in Gilliam-Cathcart's report, she said that she did not find evidence that Mr. Skidmore said he would pull the twins out of class so they "would not have a white teacher."
Spokane Public Schools released a statement on Friday regarding the incident at Sacajawea Middle School, saying in part that the district's goal is to "deeply learn and understand the source of harm and prevent it from happening in the future.
"Last month, Spokane Public Schools asked a third-party investigator to follow up on a complaint related to a U.S. History lesson that took place at Sacajawea Middle School in early May. The resulting report is attached, and we encourage everyone to thoroughly read it. The family’s identifiable information has been redacted.
Our students are our most important community members, and our top priority is making sure every child feels cared for and cared about. We regret any time someone is hurt while in our schools and apologize for a situation that made students feel emotionally unsafe. Our goal now is to deeply learn and understand the source of harm and prevent it from happening in the future.
We invite our SPS community to go on this learning journey with us. Along the way, we will need to be willing to engage in conversations that may be uncomfortable at times but are necessary to reach our mission of “excellence for everyone.” The United States’ history regarding race is a difficult subject and a divisive issue in our country. Over the past few years our district has made strides toward making sure SPS families of all backgrounds feel seen and respected, but we know there is more to be done. Here’s how we’ve been working – and will continue to work – to fulfill our promise of “excellence for everyone”:
- In 2020, informed by considerable input by educators, parents, students, and other stakeholders, the SPS Board of Directors passed a Resolution on Equity intended to create policies that improve the educational experience for all our students.
- We are continuing to provide culturally responsive and/or anti-racism trainings with staff at all SPS schools. Our in-service summer training also allows time for educators to review their lessons and practices through this lens. The approach we are taking does not involve Critical Race Theory.
- Our Department of Family and Community Engagement (DFCE) has worked with leaders across the community and SPS to develop staff trainings and professional development modules that emphasize anti-racism and cultural awareness in the classroom.
- DFCE will continue partnering with schools and organizations on listening sessions and focus groups to engage our students and families about their experiences and to provide feedback on culturally sensitive lessons.
In August, Spokane Public Schools will host a discussion led by a panel of local leaders in collaboration with the employees, students, families, and communities we serve that will look at where we’ve been, improvements we’ve made, and how our district can continue moving forward with this vitally important equity work. We look forward to sharing more details about this opportunity in the coming weeks.
The journey to cultural competency is not easy, and there are many nuances to reaching this destination. We will not always get it right, but we remain committed to providing avenues for feedback and learning as we continue building relationships and trust with our learning community. Our best chance to create true excellence for everyone is for all of us to take part in these important conversations and create action steps together that can lead us to systemic change."