<p>PALMDALE, Calif. — The mother of a Black 12-year-old boy is seeking damages against a Southern California school district after her son’s teacher went on a half-hour tirade laced with racism and profanity.</p>
<p>Katura Stokes filed a damage claim — typically a precursor to a lawsuit — on Thursday on behalf of her son against the Palmdale School District over comments made by a science instructor after a Zoom session with her son in January, the Orange County Register <a href="https://www.ocregister.com/2021/03/25/teachers-profane-racist-rant-captured-on-video-by-mother-of-black-sixth-grader-in-palmdale/">reported.</a></p>
<p>The sixth-grader attends Desert Willow Fine Arts, Science and Technology Magnet Academy in Palmdale, an Antelope Valley city northeast of Los Angeles. </p>
<p>The student body is about 13% African-American.</p>
<p>In her complaint, Stokes said her son had struggled to complete class assignments using the district’s online platform for distance learning, instituted because classrooms have been closed during the coronavirus pandemic.</p>
<p>According to the complaint, science teacher Kimberly Newman, Stokes and her son had a Zoom session on Jan. 20 to work out problems in using the platform and the teacher finally said the boy was caught up with his assignments.</p>
<p>But then the teacher, apparently unaware that she hadn’t exited the session, went on a rant — recorded by Stokes — lasting more than 30 minutes in which she apparently is heard complaining to her husband.</p>
<p>“She’s answered her phone for the first time the entire year," the teacher says of Stokes, according to the video obtained by the Register.</p>
<p>“I mean these parents, that’s what kind of piece of s(asterisk)(asterisk)t they are," Newman says, and adds: “Black. He’s Black. They’re a Black family."</p>
<p>“Your son has learned to lie to everybody and make excuses … to be a child," the video continues. “Since you’ve taught him to make excuses that nothing is his fault. This is what Black people do.” </p>
<p>Newman was placed on administrative leave and resigned within days after the Zoom meeting. She declined to comment when reached by phone Thursday, the Register said.</p>
<p>The video “clearly shows that unequal educational experiences for minority students exist," said Neil Gehlawat, an attorney representing Stokes. “Ms. Stokes reached out for help — and, in return, she discovered that her son was being treated unfairly because of the color of his skin.”</p>
