Racial Incidents At Pyle Middle Spark Outrage

Educators at Thomas W. Pyle Middle School met with parent leaders, county officials and community groups yesterday to map out strategies for dealing with what some fear is a "pattern of racial intolerance" developing at the Bethesda area campus.

The closed meeting came after five incidents in which racial slurs were used against black students. This week, Principal Michael J. Zarchin sent a letter home to parents outlining the issues.

"I want to bring a serious issue to your attention. We have had 5 reported incidents where African American students have been subjected to receiving racially insensitive/harmful language in verbal and/or written form from other students," Zarchin wrote. "Each of the incidents has been dealt with individually through the discipline policy. I am, however, concerned that there may be a pattern of racial intolerance that is surfacing here at Pyle. I want you to know this is totally unacceptable and I ask for your assistance by discussing this issue with your children."

Representatives of the school's NAACP parent council also sent e-mails to parents urging them to talk to their children.

"While the majority of the Pyle community does not condone or accept this type of behavior or these acts, we encourage you to have a discussion with your child on the seriousness of hate crimes and how to handle the situation in an appropriate manner," wrote Melissa Bradley and Cynthia Clanton, Pyle's NAACP representatives.

Zarchin also held a meeting Tuesday to talk to black parents about what has been happening.

Zarchin said officials from Montgomery County's Office of Diversity were called in to investigate the first incident, which happened in September. They concluded that the encounter was an isolated occurrence. But after another episode in January and three more episodes in the past three weeks, Zarchin said the school community wanted to reassess its approach to dealing with diversity and bullying.

"Obviously, it's been extremely upsetting," Zarchin said. "I feel terrible about what has happened."

After each incident, he called the community superintendent's office and the school's local NAACP representative. All incidents involved different students, and in each case, the perpetrator was suspended.