Pearland Independent School District is located in a rapidly growing suburb of Houston, Texas. As a district that has 21,500 students, 35% Latinx, 15% African American, and 11% Asian American, it should be a beacon of inclusion. Instead, it continues to reflect a toxic climate of intolerance (1,2,3) that endangers the health and well-being of a diverse student community.

A daughter of a physician who ran for school board in this district in May 2019, ironically on a platform of whole child health and educational equity, was the target of a racist display of public humiliation last week (below). The teacher in whose classroom it occurred and the principal of the school addressed the incident with great haste. District administration, however, remained silent on the call for systemic redress in the context of an environment that has shown itself to be unsafe for all students (1,2,3).

As physicians, we are sharply aware of the social determinants of health that come to bear on, for instance, youth suicide (4), which is alarmingly high (1.5x national average, 5) in this district. We do not take such abuses lightly.

WE DEMAND that district administration immediately 1. produce a copy of the current Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) training for employees in the district; 2. implement meaningful D&I training, if the current training is deemed insufficient. Further details to be negotiated in a public forum (community town hall) with the aggrieved party, as they have requested.

STUDENT NARRATIVE: At the beginning of 4th period, Mrs. X left the class for a few minutes and said she’d be back. The class just worked quietly on their work. Like 30 seconds to 1 minute later, 2 people that I assume were faculty members, came into the room. (It was unclear whether Mrs. X sent them in to look over us or not.) Mr. Teacher One walked up to the board, and pointed out that we were writing something down about population density, which we were. Then, he said that we (as a class) should know what population density is because we were an AP class. I just continued to write. Then, Mr. Teacher One pointed to me and said “HEY ASIAN GIRL. What’s population density?” And of course, I know what population density is, but one, I hate being put on the spot, and two, I was in complete and utter shock that I had just been referred to as “Asian girl”. Right after calling me out and me answering with “I don’t know” under my breath, Mr. Teacher One remarked "Well, you don't fit the stereotype." Then he moved on to a kid sitting to the left of me, to whom he proceeded to say, “HEY INDIAN BOY. What’s population density?” I’m not sure how this student felt about this situation, but I was sitting with my jaw hanging open and my face flushed red from embarrassment from being called out in front of the entire class. Mr. Teacher One said that this student did not fit the stereotype, either. When my teacher returned, Mr. Teacher One remarked, “They don’t fit the stereotypes. They’re not smart.”

(1) Pearland. The School Superintendent. His LGBT-hostile Remarks.
https://www.houstonchronicle.com/local/gray-matters/article/Pearland-The-school-superintendent-His-7868537.php  

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/pearland-school-district-in-texas-sued-in-federal-civil-rights-complaint-over-sharpie-used-in-students-fade-haircut/

(3) Pearland ISD student told she would need a note from a religious leader to wear hijab: Parents
http://www.fox26houston.com/home/parents-want-pearland-isd-dress-code-to-be-more-inclusive

(4) Suicide and Youth: Risk Factors
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6218408/

(5) Suicide Rate in Pearland ISD with
https://tinyurl.com/PearlandISDSuicideNumbers