When Hate Invades the Classroom: SOAH holds community meeting

Speak Out Against Hate hosted a community meeting, When Hate Invades the Classroom, Jan. 21 at the Lewes Public Library.

“If we don’t address hate incidents, we’re normalizing [them], and isn’t that the trend nowadays, the normalization of hate?” said panelist Channel Chaplin, a mental health counselor at Sussex Academy. “Silence communicates permission.”

The meeting happened in conjunction with the Hate Has No Home Here Film Festival, which took place Jan. 23-24, at the Cinema Art Theater in Lewes. The festival was originally scheduled to run through Jan. 25, but was cut short due to inclement weather.

Around 30 people attended the meeting.

Two other panelists joined Chaplin – Elyse Baerga, principal of Frederick Thomas Middle School, and Fay Blake, founder and executive director of Pathways to Success.

The discussion was moderated by Adrienne Fyock, a substitute teacher for the Cape Henlopen School District, who also serves as a Be Smart co-lead for the local Moms Demand Action and a member of SOAH’s Youth and School Officials Action Group.

Some of the topics discussed during the hour-and-a-half-long event included the differences between bias, hate speech and microaggressions; creating a safe space for students; the role of social media in bringing hate into school spaces and the importance of proactively addressing social media issues; the consequences of hate and balancing accountability with opportunities for learning and growth; the importance of addressing hate incidents promptly; and the long-term effects of unaddressed hate incidents. 

Panelists spoke about how to respond in situations where emotions are high after a hate incident, and stressed the value of restorative conversations with both the student who was targeted and the student who engaged in the hateful behavior.

Not only are the students who are targeted negatively impacted by the hate, often leading them to internalize it, but also it impacts the other students and the overall school culture, the panelists said.

If a teacher is not responding or taking action, they are unintentionally showing the students that hate is OK and that there are no repercussions for it.

However, the panelists also underscored that teachers must find a balance between enforcing consequences to demonstrate that hate is not tolerated and using these incidents as learning opportunities. Sometimes, they said, the students who engage in hateful behavior don’t fully understand the impact of their actions or their words, at which point education is important.

Still, they must ensure that hate is addressed promptly and firmly, and that the students who are targeted are validated in their feelings, the panelists said.