A Colorado middle school has removed an English lesson plan that spelled out the N-word 32 times, according to KRDO on Monday (November 20). A Black mother told reporters she pulled her three children from Atlas Preparatory School in Colorado Springs after discovering the controversial material in one of their lesson packets.
"I couldn't believe what I was reading. It was very disturbing," Jasmine Roberson said in an interview. "I can't have my children here because I don't feel that they're safe."
Roberson said she confronted school administrators about the lesson the next day. She claims officials told her the "curriculum activity" was meant to help eighth-graders "understand the word." KRDO then followed up with the charter school, and they confirmed it was meant to prepare students before reading To Kill A Mockingbird, which mentions the racial slur multiple times.
According to the news station, the lesson included essays explaining the N-word's history, context, and current-day use, as well as excerpts from Black authors Ta-Nehisi Coates, Lincoln Anthony Blades, and Kevin Cato.
Roberson believes the word doesn't have to be used verbatim numerous times to get the point across, and she's not alone in that sentiment. Rocky Mountain NAACP President Portia Prescott said educators should avoid reiterating the word during class.
"We're not going to print it. We're not going to review it. We're not going to study it. We're not going to analyze it to look at it," Prescott told reporters.
Atlas Preparatory School's director claims neither the teacher nor students read aloud the world in class and was "only written in the lesson as a direct quote from the essay being cited and only appeared in written text." The school also issued a statement to KRDO:
"As a school, we acknowledge that this lesson was taught to assist our students in reading the novel, 'To Kill a Mockingbird' by Harper Lee, where the word appears frequently throughout the book. Direct quotes from various authors were used to demonstrate the historical use of the word, support students to understand the word and for them to learn about the harmful impact it has had. We take our students' and families' concerns seriously and address them on an individual basis. Our team met with the family to apologize, explain the context and offer alternative books for reading. We have chosen to remove the lesson and are engaging in a review process to ensure that this does not occur again in the future."
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