OJAI : School Investigates Alleged Racial Slurs

Several girls at Matilija Junior High School in Ojai have been accused of making racial slurs against another girl, school officials said Tuesday.

Principal James Berube said he was investigating a report that someone drew a swastika in the dirt near one girl’s locker last week and that a racial epithet was written on her locker late last month.

The student, who is black and who transferred into the district in September, has also received at least two threatening notes and a series of verbal threats, said Lonnie Stanford, the girl’s grandfather.

School officials Tuesday downplayed the incidents, with the principal saying it was a dispute over mutual acquaintances. The girls “had been having friend problems,” Berube said.

Vice Principal Steve Olsen questioned whether threats were made.

“The girl said there was something spoken to her as she walked down a sidewalk (on campus),” said Olsen, who also is Ojai’s mayor. “The other kids emphatically denied that it was anything racial.”

Berube said he met with his staff Tuesday to discuss the allegations and said he planned to get the parents of the girls together for a meeting with school officials.