ATTORNEY MARK T. HARRIS

Two 14-year-olds arrested in connection with racist graffiti at Sacramento school

March 8, 2022

SACRAMENTO, Calif. —

Two teens were arrested in connection with racist graffiti discovered along a wall at Abraham Lincoln Elementary School in mid-February, officials announced Monday.

The graffiti, which included swastikas and the letters "KKK," had been spray-painted on the campus during the 2022 Abraham Lincoln’s birthday observance.

The teens, both 14-years-old, had caused more than $400 in damage, which is the threshold for felony vandalism, the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department said.

Investigators used video surveillance footage showing the teens on campus during the same time the vandalism is believed to have happened.

Both teens attend nearby George Washington Carver High School, officials said.

"While the identification of those involved provides some closure, the impact of racist acts leaves lasting hurt for our students, staff and community," said Sacramento City Unified School District Superintendent Jorge A. Aguilar in a prepared statement.

"Sac City Unified will continue to support our students, staff and families at Lincoln Elementary in the wake of this incident, and work with our entire community to interrupt and address racism. We are committed to building an equitable and positive culture and climate that supports success for all students at every school in our district,"

This racist graffiti incident is just one of several that have been recently reported within the Sacramento City Unified School District.

In an effort to address racism within its system, the district hired attorney Mark T. Harris at the beginning of this year as the first racism liaison.

In early February, district officials said that an investigation was underway after water fountains at McClatchy High School were labeled "Colored" and "White." A Black McClatchy student later confessed, saying she thought it was a "prank," Harris said.

Last June, a seventh-grade teacher at Kit Carson International Academy was caught on video using a racial slur in front of her classroom. The district said it was moving toward firing that teacher in late January.

In November, the same derogatory slur was found on West Campus High School, written multiple times near Vice-Principal Elysse Versher’s parking spot. The investigation into this incident remains active.

McClatchy student confesses to racist graffiti at Sacramento school, officials say

February 18, 2022

SACRAMENTO, Calif. —

A Black student from C.K. McClatchy High School will face disciplinary action after confessing to having labeled water fountains at the school “White” and “Colored,” Sacramento City Unified School District's race and equity liaison said on Friday.

Last week, the racist markings were found at C.K. McClatchy High School, prompting an investigation. The school district worked with the Sacramento Police Department to identify the person as a SCUSD student, which was announced on Thursday.

The student has been identified as a sophomore who attends McClatchy, Attorney Mark Harris told KCRA 3.

"It appears as though a young African American student participated in what she thought was a prank. She has confessed to doing that," Harris said. "... A prank that went sideways. It’s an unfortunate prank. It does not seem to be an example of any kind of hate crime, it’s not an example in my opinion of any kind of racist behavior pattern. It was a prank."

Harris believes no other student was involved in the graffiti, but did mention that another person might have filmed it.

The case has been turned over to the District Attorney's office who will decide if the student will face charges. Harris said an arrest is possible, but that it was more likely the student would face expulsion or suspension as punishment.

"It was most distressing that the young woman who put the two words over the water fountains was not aware of the significance of that. Genuinely, was not aware," Harris said.

Betty Williams, president of the Greater Sacramento NAACP, released a statement about the incident, saying the school district "has not been fully transparent in its investigation process."

"The Greater Sacramento NAACP is extremely concerned with the persistent culture of racism, violence and microaggressions towards Black students. The investigation process is not fair, as evidenced by the swift investigation and closure of the C.K. McClatchy incident where the perpetrator(s) are allegedly Black. Meanwhile, the perpetrators of the hate crimes at West Campus are still at-large, and it seems the SCUSD is protecting them from prosecution," Williams said in the statement.

Williams says the district received millions in funding to address pandemic-related issues for Black and brown students, and calls for "culturally appropriate student supports" from Black community organizations to address these students' needs.

The Sacramento City Unified School District said it is investigating the water fountain incident along with other racist graffiti found at another school in the district.

"Sac City Unified takes any instance of racial intolerance extremely seriously because such acts harm our students and our entire community," SCUSD Superintendent Jorge Aguilar wrote in a release on Thursday. "While identification of the person involved in this incident has been addressed, we will remain focused on supporting the healing of students and staff who have been impacted by this troubling act of vandalism."

Days after the vandalism at the fountains, the school district said on Tuesday that it discovered more racist graffiti, this time along an outside wall at Abraham Lincoln Elementary School.

The school district said it is working with the Rancho Cordova Police Department with this investigation.

Community leaders met Thursday morning to speak out against the graffiti found at the elementary school.

“This kind of act is unacceptable…whoever this is in Sac City Unified that seems to be running around trying to scare people, we are going to find you," Rancho Cordova City Council Member Garrett Gatewood announced in front of a crowd.

In recent months, the school district has made steps to address racism within its system. In late January, SCUSD hired attorney Mark. T Harris as its first-ever racism liaison. The hiring was announced after two high-profile racism investigations from 2021.

Last June, a seventh-grade teacher at Kit Carson International Academy was caught on video using a racial slur in front of her classroom. In November, the same derogatory slur was found on West Campus High School, written multiple times near Vice-Principal Elysse Versher’s parking spot.

To view interview click here.

A Sacramento teacher asked for change after racial incidents.

Here’s how the district responded

by: Marcus D. Smith

January 24, 2022 5:25 AM

Sacramento City Unified School District introduced a new district “monitor-liaison” last week to assist in investigations regarding recent racial incidents at two campuses. Attorney Mark T. Harris is charged with helping district address an incident at West Campus High School in which a vice principal was subjected to racially derogatory statements online, and a separate incident at Kit Carson International Academy in which a teacher used the n-word twice in a discussion with students. Harris’ deep ties to the community allow him to focus on instances of racism and improve on equity, social justice and civil rights efforts to better serve all students and prevent racist incidents in the future, Superintendent Jorge Aguilar said.

Harris’ appointment follows a Jan. 5 email the district received from Sacramento City Unified teacher Erin Leone, who demanded “demonstrable changes” to address and disrupt “the racist culture within the district.” She questioned the “mishandling” of racial incidents within the district. Leone also expressed concerns about a separate incident a year ago at Luther Burbank High School in which a student and teacher had an exchange over the N-word. A subsequent faculty discussion reportedly became hostile.

A BACKGROUND IN CIVIL RIGHTS

Aguilar says that incident along with others caused him to bring in Harris, whom he referred to as a “prime candidate” to partner with to ensure that every aspect of these investigations is rigorously conducted. “We decided to take this proactive step of engaging a longtime Sacramentan with extensive expertise in social justice and civil rights to help us address these instances of racism and ensure that we improve on everything that we do around equity, social justice and civil rights to better serve our students,” Aguilar said.

Harris is the Central Valley Managing Attorney for the national law firm, Ben Crump Law. He’s a founder of Central Valley Leaders, a statewide youth leadership development academy. He’s also the director of Pre-Law Studies at the University of California, Merced. Harris has helped in solving education issues, racial issues, and inequitable practices within Sacramento City Unified since he first arrived in Sacramento in 1974. He says that the same issues that existed then, they are dealing with now. “I’m committed both ethically and professionally to the truth,” said Harris in a Wednesday interview with The Bee. “I hope to be able to explain it in a way people will understand even if they don’t agree with it.”

POTENTIAL DISCIPLINE FOR STUDENTS

The district remains committed to building stronger relational trust among its Black population, Aguilar says.

Aguilar said initiating outside investigations and partnering with Harris is just one step toward that goal. Aguilar said he looks to build stronger relational trust with his Black students and meet their academic, mental, social, and emotional needs. “The fact that we are still a district that suffers from systemic racism is on us. It’s a responsibility that I take very seriously. I also acknowledge that we have a lot of work to do,” said Aguilar. Harris is said to have free rein in his role as a monitor-liaison from the superintendent and the board of trustees. He says his advice to the superintendent and the board will be “by any means necessary”. He suggested the district push the limits and take appropriate, necessary and effective disciplinary actions in correspondence with the law and the state of California Education Code. “We’re not accusing you or your kids of anything, but if your kid is found to have committed these atrocities, we’ll do everything we can to make sure that kid gets to wear that jacket,” said Harris. “So your plans for that kid to go to Brown or Harvard or Stanford or Cal? Maybe you need to think twice because that kid’s going to have to deal with the fact that they participated in domestic terrorism as far as I’m concerned some of the things that these young people are accused of, but that’s the end result.”

SCUSD works with independent monitor to investigate incidents of racial bias

by: Sonseeahray Tonsall, Jonathan Taraya

January 19, 2022

SACRAMENTO, (KTXL) — After months of intense criticism following racist graffiti and social media threats targeting a vice principal at one of its schools, the Sacramento City Unified School District is trying something new to build trust with the community.

When SCUSD does start an investigation into a racially-biased incident, many watchdog groups said those internal probes lose direction and any updates get lost.

A new independent monitor will be working with the district to address those issues, which is good news for those who want to see change.

“The entire community should be outraged. We need to be honest with ourselves about doing something different to impact and ensure our actions create real accountability,” said Cassandra Jennings, a member of the SCUSD African American Advisory Board. “We support, and I’m happy, the board and superintendent are taking their steps for the anti-racism that you mentioned today.”

Sacramento police began investigating spray-painted and online threats against West Campus High School Vice Principal Dr. Elysse Versher last fall as a hate crime.

There was some belief early on that Versher, also called “Dr. V,” was targeted with hate by some students and adults upset about her enforcing the school dress code.

While attorney Mark Harris will now be independently reviewing the district’s work to unravel bias incidents like that, many believe SCUSD hasn’t gone far enough.

“It’s not enough to come and say, ‘Well, we’re going to have an independent monitor,’ without also doing the work to support the folks who were directly impacted,” explained Lorreen Pryor, the president of the Black Youth Leadership Project. “It’s a lot for someone like Dr. V who had to deal with health issues because of the stress of being targeted with racial violence, that has pretty much persisted in this country and school districts nationwide.”

The district pledged its support, strongly condemned racist acts in its school communities and implemented anti-racism training for all staff and district leaders.

To view the interview click here.

 Sac City Unified Appoints Liaison to Help Address Racism and Improve on Equity and Inclusion, Social Justice and Civil Rights

Press release January 19, 2022

Sacramento, CA - The Sacramento City Unified School District is taking a proactive step to confront racism by engaging a long-time Sacramento community member with extensive expertise in social justice and civil rights matters. 

Attorney Mark T. Harris will advise and help the district address instances of racism, and improve on equity, social justice and civil rights. He will provide impartial review of independent investigations into the recent racist incident that occurred at West Campus  to ensure that the process is credible, and will serve as a liaison to the community to support communication between the district and the Black community.

“Our district has a diverse and committed leadership team who are working hard to pierce through inequities and improve social justice so that every student, family and staff member feels included and equally supported. Yet, we acknowledge that we have a lot of work to do,” said Jorge A. Aguilar, Superintendent of Sac City Unified. “Mark Harris will be a critical friend to Sac City Unified as we support healing from the trauma that blatant racism has caused within our school communities, and will push us to go deeper to confront racial prejudice so the culture and climate at our district and each of our schools will be inclusive, supportive, culturally competent, and equitable for all  students, staff and families.”  

“The Sacramento City Unified School District community of stakeholders, which includes administrators, faculty, staff, parents and students, are entitled to be kept abreast of ongoing efforts to identify and eradicate instances of racism and discriminatory conduct from throughout the entire district,” said Mark T. Harris. “The first step on any journey towards accountability is transparency. Fundamentally, my role with the Sacramento City Unified School District is to enhance confidence in the collective ongoing investigations of allegations of racist conduct and to bring to the District innovative methods to prevent future occurrences of inappropriate conduct.”

Mr. Harris has practiced law and served in a number of public service positions in Sacramento for almost forty years. He is one of the founders of the Central Valley Leaders, a statewide youth leadership development academy, and is the Director of Pre-Law Studies at the University of California, Merced. In addition to his deep ties in Sacramento, he is a nationally recognized expert and advisor on racial justice issues. 

“The Sac City Unified School Board strongly supports the district’s efforts to become more united, more inclusive, and more educated about interrupting racism,” said Christina Pritchett, President of the Sacramento City Unified School District. “These efforts must impact every aspect of our organization, from our Board to our classrooms. We applaud the district for engaging Mr. Harris to advance this important work.”

In addition to engaging Mr. Harris, Sac City Unified has initiated a number of initiatives to  make schools more inclusive and supportive for all students. 

• Sac City Unified has implemented mandatory anti-racism training for all staff and district leaders. Sac City Unified negotiated a day of anti-racism mandatory training for all teachers as part of professional development at the start of the school year. School site leaders, Superintendent Aguilar and the district’s leadership team have participated in the same professional development. The Sac City Unified Board is starting anti-racism training this month.
  

• The district is working to improve the culture and climate district-wide so that every school is more inclusive, supportive, culturally competent, and equitable for all students and staff, including Black students and other students of color, students with disabilities, English Learners, foster youth, homeless youth, and LGBTQ+ youth.
  

• Classroom libraries are being updated with high-quality antiracist and culturally responsive materials, including culturally relevant books that reflect the lived experiences of our students, and bringing in living-history speakers that can speak to justice and equity in action.
  

• The district is working to recruit and retain staff who reflect the district’s diverse student population.
  

• The Men’s and Women’s Leadership Academies are being expanded to empower students of color with wraparound services that promote Social Emotional Learning, culturally relevant and responsive leadership development, meaningful mentorship, and academic support that engages students.
  

• Through implementation of a Multi-Tiered System of Support, or MTSS, Sac City Unified is working to provide every student with specific academic, behavioral, social-emotional, and mental and physical health supports to meet their individual needs, so that all students can remain fully engaged in school and access core instruction.
  

“I am happy to hear Sac City Unified is contracting with a trusted voice in our community, attorney Mark Harris. Not only is he a seasoned lawyer and tenured professor he is a well-respected radio show host who is not afraid to ask the hard question nor is he reluctant to hold those accountable who need to be held accountable. It’s a win-win for us all.” – Jay King, President and CEO, California Black Chamber of Commerce

“The district’s embrace of antiracism education and practices is an essential step in eradicating structural racism in our country’s educational system. Parents, community members, and other advocates are enthusiastic and appropriately insistent partners, expecting the work will be approached with both urgency and thoughtfulness,” said Chet P. Hewitt, president and CEO of Sierra Health Foundation and The Center