By Mikayla Holmes from everythinglubbock.com
On Wednesday, several Lubbock-Cooper parents spoke on the racial harassment they said their children faced while attending Laura Bush Middle School in the Lubbock-Cooper Independent School District.
“We’re all sitting here because all of us had to come together to stand up for our children,” said Tracy Kemp.
Tracey Kemp said her son was the victim of bullying while he was a student at Laura Bush Middle School. Kemp’s son said he was called racial slurs and was sent to the principal’s office multiple times for what he called self-defense.
“I went to Laura Bush middle school for one year. And during that time, I was experienced by calling the N word being called [a racial slur],” Kemp’s son said. “I would get into like small fights, and everybody will blame it on me.”
Another parent, Shardae McGaha said her daughter, a sixth grade student at Laura Bush, was called a racial slur while riding the school bus.
“She came home like hysterical, like, a little girl, not of our color, which is not cool for even us to say, you know, so she knows that. And the little girl proceeded to say the N word on the bus,” McGaha said.
McGaha said she reported it to the principal and her daughter was placed in a different class.
Terry Yharbrough and her family moved to Lubbock from California and her son began attending Laura Bush at the beginning of the 2021-22 school year. She said her son started facing “serious racial issues.”
“He’s talking to his teachers, he is talking to us, he’s letting us know, hey, this same kid, he is constantly doing things to me. He is constantly using racial slurs,” Yharbrough said. She went on to say her son was tried to avoid this student until he was approached by this student at the bus stop.
The children of these parents were also involved in the “LBMS_m0nkeys” Instagram page. The LBMS stood for “Laura Bush Middle School Monkeys.”
“What brought [all the parents] together was the Instagram posts called monkeys of Laura Bush Middle School. I was getting ready to head out in the morning, it was sent to my child,” Kemp said.
These parents along with several others reached out to a Dallas law firm to help them take legal action against LCISD. Ellwanger Law sent a letter to LCISD superintendent, Keith Bryant about these allegations on behalf of the parents and their children on Thursday, August 18.
Ellwanger Law gave LCISD 14 days to respond to the letter. If LCISD does not respond to the law firm said they “will take that to mean that Lubbock-Cooper ISD does not desire to work with us towards an amicable outcome.”