A Santa Rosa couple says their mixed-race son was subjected to racist insults and threats over two years at Analy High School and that when they reported it to school officials in August, none of the alleged perpetrators was punished.

They say the school’s inaction allows and encourages a hostile, threatening learning environment, and they are hoping to force change by speaking out about it now.

The district superintendent denies the Sebastopol high school has a race problem and said students often police themselves when they see peers acting inappropriately. Analy has 1,300 pupils, 75 percent of whom are white and 5 percent of whom are black or biracial.

The boy, Evan Mack, spent a month at the beginning of this school year on independent study after his parents formally complained to the district. He didn’t feel safe at school after being called racist names and otherwise racially harassed in class, at football practice and on social media, said his mother, Raquel Mack.

Mack has since transferred to another school and is succeeding academically and is much happier, she said.
But his mother said that’s not enough. She and her husband, John, are not satisfied with what she calls a perfunctory and incomplete investigation by the school.

School officials did not question several involved students and staff members, and the investigation only touched on two of numerous incidents the Macks reported, according to a copy of the findings provided by the Macks.

“What does it say when you go to an institution like a school that is supposed to be a safe place, and they don’t do anything to help, and, in fact, make it more difficult on your child?” she said.

“People need to know. There will be other black kids who go through the school system there. I don’t want them to go through this.”

Safeguards questioned

West Sonoma County Union High School District Superintendent Steven Kellner said he couldn’t speak directly about the incidents because of student privacy rights. He maintains Analy and the other west county campuses have “a positive school culture.”

The school trains a handful of students each year as “safe school ambassadors” who “intervene directly with students when they see conflict arise, whether it’s physical or virtual,” Kellner said. Or they can enlist the help of an adult if it rises to a higher level, he said.

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