LACK OF CULTURAL COMPETENCY

words without actions are meaningless.

you cannot simply incorporate the terms "diversity," "social justice," and "people of color" into your everyday LEXICON and expect the rest of your performative activism to sort itself out.

Rather than make tangible efforts to address and cater to the specific needs of students of color, Renton Prep chooses to advertise their numbers and racial student demographics as a means of promoting their "six-decade long commitment to inclusiveness, social justice, and racial equality.”

However, simply operating a school with a diverse student makeup does not remove Renton Prep staff from their responsibility to become the most culturally competent educators that they can be.

It is not enough for Administrators, specifically Dr. Michelle Zimmerman ("Michelle") and Dr. David-Paul Zimmerman ("DPZ"), to claim cultural competency without actually acting upon it.

Other than throw an annual International Potluck, managed by student and parent volunteers, what have the Zimmermans done to meet students of color where they’re at?

What have they done to elevate the voices of the marginalized?

What have they done to confront racial biases in the classroom?

What have they done to give students of color a platform to openly speak about their lived experiences, free of interruption?

What have they done to dismantle the systems of oppression from which they benefit? What have they done to listen to their students of color?

What have they done to step out of their comfort zones and, for once, believe the words of their students?

The Zimmermans can insist all they want about being committed to serving all students, but their increased attempts to hide and distort the truth by upholding notions of colorblindness dismisses the pain, struggles, and realities of people of color.

lack of cultural competency IN ACTION

EXHIBIT A:

On April 2, 2018, Michelle and DPZ emailed a letter to the Renton Prep Christian School Community, including former families of the Schools, “to correct some of the serious, but false allegations that they [Huertas-Fernandez families] continue to spread.” 

The email stated,

“Notably, during the lawsuit, the mother [Dawn] was asked: '…Did you ever feel like you were discriminated against for any reason by the school because of your sex or ethnic background?'" 

Her answer was,

"Absolutely not.”

What Michelle and DPZ FAILED to include in the letter was the narrative Dawn made before and after she answered the question from Renton Prep’s attorney, during her January 12, 2018 deposition. 

Dawn's narrative before referenced examples she gave about her dissatisfaction with the treatment from Renton Prep, including two incidents involving false accusations against Dawn's middle daughter, Randi, for "lying." Despite Michelle being the accuser both times around, she never accepted accountability, and never apologized to Randi.  Instead, her father, as well as another Renton Prep teacher, apologized to Randi and took the blame for Michelle's false accusations. 

Dawn's narrative after consisted of her response to a question asking whether she had heard any comments made by staff at Renton Prep that she felt were discriminatory or insensitive to either her sex or ethnic background. Dawn answered yes, and went on to explain how Dr. David-Paul Zimmerman called her niece’s father, an African-American man, a “Mexican drug dealer.”

Exhibit b:

A member of a social media private group commented that she pulled her "Black son" out of Renton Prep / Amazing Grace Christian Schools only two weeks into the school year because of an "attitude towards Black men and boys [that] is disgusting and damaging."

EXHIBIT c:

By Jasmine Fernandez, 16 y/o

During my 9th grade year at Renton Prep, Michelle assigned an elaborate project to the 6th-10th grade classes, which revolved around the study of salmon in the Cedar River. One of her assignments required students to digitally draw salmon in the style of a Pacific Northwest Native American tribal design.

While discussing the task with a few of my classmates, we came to the conclusion that Michelle’s assignment was extremely culturally insensitive. Being non-indigenous students, we believed that it was wrong to replicate native art for the sake of our own gain, especially without having looked into the cultural significance behind the designs.

Simply put, following through with the assignment would have made each of us responsible for appropriating a culture that we had absolutely NO right to partake in without direct invitation.

Two of my classmates approached Michelle about our concerns, but were immediately shut down. According to Michelle, it was our responsibility, as students, to have conducted preliminary research beforehand. However, this came as a surprise, since she had NEVER instructed us to do so.

Rather than owning up to her mistake and, after being informed of its problematic nature, eliminating the assignment, Michelle attempted to shift blame onto the students for not educating themselves, or in other words, not doing her job.

EXHIBIT d:

By Jasmine Fernandez, 16 y/o

During a Cinco de Mayo celebration that same year, the 9th and 10th grade classes had an individual party that took place in our homeroom. At one point, while Michelle was standing in the classroom, she waved her “exotic-looking” dress in the air and said,

“Look, I’m Cinco de Mayo!”

This is very unheard of. What kind of white person compares themselves to, not even a person of color, but an entire holiday (emphasis on day) that is commemorated to honor the Mexican Army's victory against the French?

It is not only insensitive, but belittling to the lives of those whose stories and experiences are minimized by distorted narratives of Cinco de Mayo.

EXHIBIT e:

By Jasmine Fernandez, 16 y/o

On numerous occasions, if not on an annual basis, Michelle has initiated conversations about her experiences as a "victim" of racism with Amazing Grace Christian School and Renton Prep students.

Although she may have had encounters with racial prejudices, Michelle's whiteness does not make her a target of systematic racism.

In fact, she is allowed to benefit from systems of oppression based in race, thus making her a beneficiary of white privilege. As a person of color and former student of Michelle, it started to become painful for me to listen to her attention-seeking cries.

The remarks and anecdotes that she shared of her struggles as a white woman truly minimized those of her students of color.

This is worsened by the fact that the Schools make minimal-to-zero effort to give the marginalized a platform for their own voices and stories to be elevated.  

EXHIBIT f:

By Jasmine Fernandez, 16 y/o

At one point during my ninth grade school year, Michelle called the 6th-10th grade classes into the "Middle Area" of the Renton Prep campus to discuss why students should take a stance on the All Lives Matter Movement, rather than the Black Lives Matter Movement.

Does Michelle understand how belittling it is to tell a room full of youth of color, particularly black students, that a movement aimed to address the police brutality and implicit racial bias facing black communities was WRONG?

To read more about the Racist System at Renton Prep, perpetuated by the Zimmerman's, visit the following pages:

• Exploitation of Students of Color
• Racial Stereotyping
• White Fragility