Pepper tree elementary: Pepper Tree Elementary School, Upland, CA
Upland families take legal action against district after students receive racist cards with taunting messages, including N-word
UPLAND, Calif. (KABC) — Parents of students at Pepper Tree Elementary School in Upland are taking public and legal action over racist attacks against their children, including verbal taunting and racist illustrations handed to one student at the beginning of Black History Month.
“That ‘my favorite cotton picker’ card was one of the two cards that Chloe received,” said Marlene Reynoso, adding that another classmate gave her daughter a different card that read “To Chloe: You’re my favorite monkey.”
Another parent said their child’s name appeared on one of the cards but was crossed out. Most of the students are in the 6th grade.
“That made me feel like, I didn’t actually know that they thought of me that way,” said Chloe.
According to lawyers who are now representing four families with similar experiences, the racist attacks against students have gone on for months, and in some cases, years.
“During COVID, this young child started to receive links during the Zoom classes,” said attorney James Bryant, who went on to explain the link displayed a picture of a so-called “golden N-word pass.”
“They’ve been passing this out and having Black children — whether African American or African — sign these things so they’d be the “golden” N-word versus the rest of the slave-like children,” said Bryant.
Lawyers said one child responsible for racist behavior is the child of a teacher. They also describe a lack of action from administrators to incidents parents have brought forward.
“This time last year, when my son was called ‘monkey’ in class, the only reason why we stopped with our complaint to the principal is because she assured my wife and I. She looked us in the face and said there will be training,” said Rome Douglas, who has several children enrolled in the school. “I found out two weeks ago, none of that ever happened.”
Douglas and his wife said they have kept e-mail records of experiences they have raised to school officials over the years that began with teacher bias and microaggressions and has escalated to these latest incidents.
Christopher Newman said his son was disciplined for his response to racist attacks, but not the other way around.
“The evidence that was presented against him was a redacted screenshot of an image that only had what he said in reply to countless images and words,” Newman said. “They said they did an investigation and they could not find any wrongdoing by the aggressor who distributed these cards.”
The school said disciplinary action was taken in response to the drawings and that the district has since reopened an investigation due to reports of “persistent behaviors.”
The school sent out a letter to parents roughly a week and a half after they were made aware of the drawings and said the following day, they began visits to classrooms to address the impact of racist bullying.
“It wasn’t until it was social media and the news media started bringing attention to it,” said Reynoso.
In a community update video posted on Feb. 17, Upland Unified Board President, Sherman Garnett said in part, “As a leader and a representative of the Upland Unified School District, I want to make it perfectly clear that we have a strict zero-tolerance policy on any type of hate speech, harassment or discriminatory practices, behaviors, racial slurs, and any reports of these actions will be investigated thoroughly and immediately.
“
Kabene Gabremariam’s son received a “golden N-word pass” in September. Gabremariam’s son asked her what the “N-word” meant.
An immigrant from Ethiopia, Gabremariam, had to search for its meaning online.
“After I learned what it means – N-word – my heart breaks,” she said. “It took me a couple of days to explain to my son what it really means.”
She encouraged her son to channel his experience into change. He included it in a campaign video for student council in which he focused on anti-bullying awareness.
“I was told by the school that he cannot put his experience in the speech,” said Gabremariam.
The families are now taking legal action against the school district. Attorneys are filing claim for damages on behalf of the four families. The school district will have 45 days to respond before a potential lawsuit follows.
Lawyers said they are calling on the California Attorney General’s office to investigate and want to see the termination of some of the school staff.
“If the Upland School District didn’t think it’s going to be a problem then, it is going to be a massive problem,” said Bryant.
Upland Unified investigating racist incident at Pepper Tree Elementary School – Daily Bulletin
Upland Unified is investigating whether disciplinary action should be taken against two Pepper Tree Elementary School students following reports they gave a fellow student homemade cards containing racist remarks and images.
The district did not elaborate on the contents of the cards given to the Black student, but a grandparent from the school shared the cards on Facebook. Hand-drawn in crayon and pencil, one card showed a cotton field with the words “my favorite cotton picker” on the outside, and the inside of the card wished the student a happy Black History Month and a promise to be nice to the student throughout the month. The second card showed a monkey with the words “my favorite monkey” written at the top.
Upland Unified has zero tolerance for “confirmed instances of racist and discriminatory activity,” the district said in a statement.
“An investigation took place immediately upon learning about the disgusting, racist drawings students gave to another child in their class,” the district said in the statement released Monday, Feb. 20. “The content in those cards is shocking and abhorrent. We deeply regret that our student has had to endure the hurt that race based bullying causes.”
In a statement Tuesday, the district said it had enacted “progressive discipline” but did not get into specifics.
“There is a continuing investigation into the incident to determine further district response,” the statement reads.
The incident has caused a stir in the community, leading parents to address the Board of Education at its meeting Tuesday. Many shared their own experiences with bullying at Pepper Tree Elementary.
“We really appreciate parents coming forward and speaking about that and we will be following up with these parents to speak to them about these incidents,” Liz Pinney-Muglia, communications director for the district, said Wednesday.
According to Pinney-Muglia, Pepper Tree Elementary’s principal was informed of the cards the weekend after they were delivered on Feb. 2. The school opened an investigation on Feb. 6.
The sixth-grade students were acting outside of their school assignments, Pinney-Muglia said.
“I want to clarify that there were two students who drew the cards,” she added. “This was not a part of any assignment or directed activity from the teacher; this was not a part of a school assignment.”
On Feb. 16, Pepper Tree Principal Becki Modereger sent a letter to families to address how the school was handling the situation and to ensure parents the matter was being taken seriously.
“Although students may not understand the deep meaning of their words and actions, it is vital to emphasize that hate speech, discriminatory behavior and racial slurs have no place at Pepper Tree Elementary,” Modereger wrote. She added there would be consequences for the behavior but did not disclose what actions would be taken due to privacy laws.
Jordan Darling started her journalism career in 2021 as the editor of The Log newspaper before moving on to join the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin in 2022. She is a 2020 graduate of California State University, Dominguez Hills where she majored in journalism and served as the editor in chief of the student-run newspaper, the Bulletin. She has covered local politics, coastal news, the environment, and education. Darling is a black belt in judo, and also enjoys coffee, reading, and dancing.
Plant Republic: Hot Pepper Trinidad Scorpion Chocolate
Today will be hot
Let’s start with a small lighting element. In the world there is a scale of hotness, proposed by the chemist William Scoville to assess the hotness of different peppers. It is not subjective – it evaluates the content of capsaicin – it is he who causes the hotness of peppers. Bulgarian pepper has a zero indicator, the Carolina Reaper appears in the Guinness Book of Records and its value is 1,500,000-2,300,000 on a scale (like pepper sprays), and the substance resiniferatoxin found in euphorbia becomes the absolute leader.
It suits me!
In the collection “The Hottest Peppers of the World” you will find truly masterpieces of this scale in the range from 10 thousand to 2.2 million scovilles. Trinidad Scorpion chocolate has a pungency of about a million scovilles. Gas masks must be worn to grow and process these peppers. In its homeland, Trinidad, this pepper is used to produce tear gas. The fruits of this plant look, in fact, similar to scorpions because of the sharp little tail. Remember – this is an extremely hot pepper. You need to be as healthy as an astronaut and prepare yourself with other peppers before trying chocolate scorpion.
Equipment
- 0.4 l pot with root watering system
- Seeds
- Primer
- Gloves
- Instruction
Grow Tree: Sunflower
Wow, it’s a sunflower!
280 ₽
Grow a tree: Gloxinia hybrida
Love at first sight
280 ₽
Grow a tree: Yucca gray
Lord’s Candle or Palm Jeans
280 ₽
Grow a Tree: Purple Basil
For the most luxurious meals
280 ₽
Grow a Tree: Common Pomegranate
The pomegranate lives all year round!
280 ₽
Grow a Tree: Rosemary
Tasty grass that smells like pine needles
280 ₽
Grow a tree: Arabic coffee
Have you seen how coffee grows?
280 ₽
Grow a Tree: Melissa
What a scent in the house!
280 ₽
Grow a tree: Decorative pepper “Black.
..
Alien tree – darkness
250 ₽
Grow a Tree: Lemon Eucalyptus
We love koalas
280 ₽
Thousand Leaves: Karkade (hibiscus sabdariffa)
Drink of the pharaohs
310 ₽
Grow a Tree: Catalpa Tree of Happiness
Macaroni tree
280 ₽
Grow a tree: Apple mint
Warm and even warmer
280 ₽
Grow a tree: Amur grapes
Starter Winemaker Kit
280 ₽
Grow Tree: Fig
Come visit me, see my.
..
280 ₽
Grow a Tree: Crazy Rose
Carroll Rose
280 ₽
Grow a Tree: Lavender
A little bit of Provence with your own hands
280 ₽
Grow a Tree: Pineapple Strawberry
Picking berries without leaving home
280 ₽
Plant Republic: Three Hot Peppers
The older one was smart
900 ₽
Grow a Tree: Weymouth Christmas Pine
The bells are ringing
280 ₽
Grow a tree: Hungarian lilac
The air smells of spring
280 ₽
Plant Republic: Ghost Pepper
You didn’t see anything
330 RUB
Plant Republic: Hot Pepper Trinidad 7 Pot.
..
Seven sweats will do?
330 RUB
Thousand Leaves: Pistachio
Symphony of taste
310 ₽
Plant Republic: Hot Pepper White Naga
Not enough thrills?
330 RUB
Grow Tree: Weymouth Pine
This is what is obtained from a pine cone
250 ₽
Thousand Leaves: Bamboo
Chill, relax
310 ₽
Plant Republic: Hot Habanero Hot Peppers
Hot buddy hails from Mexico
330 RUB
Grow a tree: Siberian cedar
Sons, at home.
.. Plant a tree first!
280 ₽
Plant Republic: Hot Pepper Sugar Fever
What a handsome man!
330 RUB
Plant Republic: Carolina Reaper Hot Pepper…
Chocolate is sweet, isn’t it?
490 ₽
Garden of Joy: Metasequoia
Ancient Miracle
1 650 ₽
Grow a Tree: Canadian Blue Spruce
Little coniferous beauty
280 ₽
Thousand Leaves: Violet Tree (Jacaranda)
noble color
310 ₽
Plant Republic: Hot Pepper Naga Morich
Never “too”
330 RUB
Plant Republic: Trinidad Scorpion Hot Pepper.
..
Oh, how it burns!
330 RUB
Thousand Leaves: Apple Mint
Without cold
310 ₽
Grow a Tree: Spiny Christmas Tree
Cones and needles
280 ₽
New
Garden of Joy: Bonsai: Orchid Tree
Incredible beauty
1 650 ₽
Garden of Joy: Japanese Pine Bonsai
Public property
1 650 ₽
Garden of Joy: Pomegranate
Love must be a tragedy
1 650 ₽
New
Flower Magic: Lithops mix
living stones
350 RUB
Garden of Joy: Bonsai Myrtle
Gentle and faithful
1 650 ₽
Grow a Tree: Blue Douglas Fir
For impatient lovers of eternity.
280 ₽
New
Flower Magic: Pomegranate
Bright and juicy
350 RUB
Plant Republic: Trinidad Scorpion Hot Pepper…
Description on the way
330 RUB
Thousand Leaves: Remontant Strawberry
Even more berries
310 ₽
Thousand Leaves Premium: Indian Lilac
pierced our hearts
850 ₽
Garden of Joy: Pistachio
Small spool but precious
1 650 ₽
Garden of Joy: Jacaranda
Very impressive
1 650 ₽
Grow a Tree: Cacti
Cacti also start with a seed
280 ₽
Grow a tree: Prickly spruce
Planted a tree – saved the planet
280 ₽
Plant Republic: Carolina Reaper Hot Pepper
Killer taste
490 ₽
A set of 3D casts of hands.
Schoolboy
You can’t learn everything in school
1 180 ₽
Thousand Leaves: Cacti
The strongest amulet
310 ₽
Growing Kit: Blue Forget-Me-Not
Sky flower
290 ₽
New
Flower Magic: Lemon Eucalyptus
Oh that smell!
350 RUB
New
Flower Magic: Adenium
Elegant exotic
350 RUB
Thousand Leaves: Common Pomegranate
Beauty and benefits
310 ₽
Plant Republic: 12 Harvests Microgreens
Mini garden
890 ₽
Thousand Leaves: Crazy Rose (Hibiscus.
..
Scarlet Delight
310 ₽
New
Flower Magic: Cactus mix
Strength and tenacity
350 RUB
New
Flower Magic: Forget-Me-Not
In my memory
350 RUB
Garden of Joy: Royal Delonix
tropical flame
1 650 ₽
Thousand Leaves Premium: Fire Tree
Phoenix Tail
850 ₽
Thousand Leaves Premium: Adenium
Beautiful but dangerous
850 ₽
Thousand Leaves: Agave
For rage to be in love
310 ₽
Thousand Leaves: Mexican Pepper
Really stings!
310 ₽
Plant Republic: Hot Pepper Naga Viper
burning thing
330 RUB
New
Flower Magic: Apple Mint
What about apples?
350 RUB
Thousand Leaves Premium: Eucalyptus Silver
natural filter
850 ₽
Thousand Leaves: Fig
paradise berry
310 ₽
Thousand Leaves: Lavender
Lavender, mountain lavender.
..
310 ₽
Thousand Leaves Premium: Strelitzia
royalty
850 ₽
Grow Kit: Coleus fiery
Light on the windowsill
290 ₽
Plant Republic: Tea Herbs
Tea ceremony
750 ₽
A set of 3D casts of hands. preschooler
Very small hands
920 ₽
Growing kit: Lavender fragrant
Endless fields at your window
290 ₽
cherry tomato
Tomatoes on the windowsill
290 ₽
Thousand Leaves: Lemon Eucalyptus
Bright smell
310 ₽
Thousand Leaves: Stevia (honey herb)
controversial plant
310 ₽
Grow a Tree: Arizona Cypress
Eternity in a pot
280 ₽
Grow a Tree: Heart Walnut
Japanese house tree
250 ₽
Grow a Tree: Blue Christmas Fir
evergreen joy
280 ₽
Grow a Tree: Marigolds Rejected
Suns on the windowsill
250 ₽
Grow a Tree: Sequoia
Giants among us
280 ₽
Grow a tree: Golden currant
Small spool but precious
250 ₽
Grow a tree: Siberian New Year’s cedar
tree of delusions
280 ₽
A set of 3D casts of hands for 1-2 hands
For a beautiful love story
1 700 ₽
Grow a Tree: Blue Christmas Tree
The holiday comes to us
280 ₽
Thousand Leaves: Peanut
Amazing discovery
310 ₽
Set “Casts of arms and legs”
memory imprint
1 424 ₽
2 190 ₽
Set Casts of arms and legs.
Base
For small and remote
904 ₽
1 390 ₽
Plant Republic: 6 Harvest Microgreens
Micro-garden
690 ₽
Grow a tree: Carnation hybrid
Spicy joy
250 ₽
Grow a Tree: Edible Passiflora (Passion Fruit)
A bit of tropics on your window
250 ₽
A set of 3D casts of hands for 2-3 hands
Hand in hand, no hands to see
2 100 ₽
Why hair quickly becomes oily already on the second day after washing – December 24, 2020
Everything seems to be elementary in hair care, but it turns out to be easy to get confused
org/Person”> Illustration: Yuri Orlov / City Portal Network
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Every day when we wash our hair, we make the same mistake, or even several, without even knowing it. Our hair revolts in response and refuses to look even decent. The roots quickly become greasy, the tips fade – in a word, a disaster. Where to run, what to buy, if advertising and self-selected beauty bloggers cannot be trusted, experts will tell us – they have identified some of the most common mistakes in scalp and hair care and explained how to fix them.
— Most often, we choose a shampoo based on the type of hair. Shampoo should be selected according to the type of scalp, but the mask and conditioner – according to the type of hair, says trichologist, cosmetologist and dermatologist Ksenia Lobanova. – If a person has oily skin, you should not buy moisturizing, nourishing shampoos. They have a low percentage of cleansing components and a high content of conditioning agents. They do not clean enough, after washing there is a feeling of unwashedness, there is no basal volume.
Shampoo for oily hair type should clean well, it has less conditioning additives, more surfactants .
Also, women often spend money on sulfate-free shampoos (in the hope that they are harmless), and then spend even more money on restoring the scalp after them.
– Do not wash your hair with sulfate-free shampoos. They cannot break down sebum, there is no chemical reaction, explains expert trichologist Natalia Marinkina . – There is a foaming agent, and sulfate is needed to activate it. There will be no splitting of fats with such a shampoo, and even more so silicones. This shampoo was designed to be applied to hair after treatments such as Botox, Keratin and Nanoplasty. Because these products use silicones to seal the hair. And in order to preserve this silicone, it is recommended to wash your hair (and not your scalp) with a sulfate-free shampoo. And wash the scalp with shampoo according to skin type .
It turned out that the big danger for lush hair is hyped shampoos for horses (which in fact have long been repackaged for people).
– Slavic and horse hair are completely different in structure. Slavic hair is thin, and horse hair is very thick – you can pierce your finger with it. Horses’ manes are washed once a month and scratched every day. We wash our hair every day. Accordingly, to make a horse mane silky, you need a horse content of silicones. And if this equine content of silicones gets on the scalp, it can bring big problems, including ingrown hairs and clogged scalp pores. But if you wash them along the length of your hair, then you don’t need to abuse it, but sometimes you can. It’s better then to take a horse conditioner, says Natalia.
– “Restoration of hair from the inside”, “contains keratin” or “shampoo contains such and such oil”: shampoo cannot restore anything inside the hair, it does not know how to do this. It is designed to remove sebum from the scalp and hair. The promise of hair restoration is nothing more than a marketing ploy, explains Natalia.
Ksenia Lobanova does not advise using dry shampoos, they will not replace washing your hair.
Especially the doctor does not recommend using them for seborrheic dermatitis, dandruff, itching and flaking of the scalp. Dry shampoo should not be used for a long time and should be washed off as soon as possible.
If you often use dry shampoo, you should definitely exfoliate your scalp at least once a month. In such cases, it is necessary to do peeling, at home it perfectly cleanses and prevents the appearance of flaking and inflammation on the scalp. For the best cleansing, Ksenia Lobanova recommends peeling once a week, using professional products.
Do not blindly follow the advice of beauty bloggers. For example, a vaunted scalp scrub (clay, water, and salt—ingredients usually gathered by eye and used after shampooing for about 5-7 minutes) can harm you.
“Salt does not cleanse or rinse, it only rips off the skin, which leads to irritation,” explains Ksenia Lobanova.
— The skin itself copes with moisture, and it does not need to be additionally moisturized.
If you are trying to reduce dryness and tightness, you may have seborrheic dermatitis, and excessive moisture will only aggravate the situation, explains Ksenia Lobanova.
Natalya Marinkina does not recommend buying masks for the scalp and hair. The trichologist explains that we practically do not have a category of people who would have overdried hair and overdried scalp. The combination is more common when oily skin and dry ends, or vice versa. According to the expert, these problems need to be corrected by different means, and not by one.
You cannot replace hair conditioner with a mask, as many people think:
– The mask penetrates into the hair. The hair consists of three layers – the squamous layer, the cortex layer and the medulla. The mask enters the cortex layer. In order for it to penetrate there, you need to open the scaly layer. But the mask will no longer be able to close the scale of the hair itself. This can be done either by a mask-conditioner, or just a conditioner.
We use it after applying the mask, the trichologist clarifies.
You should not blindly believe the advice of beauty bloggers and make masks from food and products bought at a pharmacy
Illustration: Yuri Orlov / Network of city portals
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It is necessary to wash your hair as it gets dirty so as not to provoke dandruff, the expert says. Alternate shampoos with aggressive and mild surfactants. You can wash your hair every day, but if necessary, do not try to “retrain your hair,” advises Ksenia Lobanova.
Also, the expert strongly recommends not using products that are not suitable for washing your hair – mustard powder, flour and other folk tricks. For example, on the Internet, we can easily find this advice: it is recommended to add 0.5 teaspoon of clay from the pharmacy to the usual shampoo – supposedly cleansing will be more effective. That’s right, but Ksenia reminds that clay absorbs sebum well and can dry out hair, so be careful.
Homemade scalp cleansing tonics, which include peppermint, propolis, aloe ampoules, combined with essential oils, are a bad option. The advisers promise that the scalp will not get oily for a long time, and the miracle tonic will add volume to the hair.
— Ingredients due to alcohol in the composition dry out the skin, which further stimulates the sebaceous glands even more, in addition, an allergic reaction is possible, — the doctor explains.
Natalya Marinkina does not recommend using pepper tinctures and burdock oils – they are usually tried by people with hair loss problems.
— Any type of hair loss is a disorder within the body, as the hair grows from within. And the cause must be fought within. If a person has oily scalp, he comes to the pharmacy, buys himself a pepper tincture and thinks that he will bring blood there and solve his problem, then he is mistaken. If he has any changes in the hormonal background, then he will drive even more of this androgen to the follicle, and the loss will increase, – explains Natalya Marinkina.
The expert advises burdock oil only for those people whose scalp is very sensitive and prone to dryness.
We all know this instruction, but when it comes to hair washing itself, it seems that amnesia sets in. Let’s assume that we already have a shampoo suitable for the type of scalp.
Comb your hair before shampooing to avoid tangles. Shampoo must first be applied to the palms, mixed a little with water, and then applied to the roots – we wash the hair itself with foam. Wash your hair with warm water, as hot water provokes excessive work of the sebaceous glands.
It is best to wash your hair in an upright position so that the water runs backwards. When you wash your hair upside down, the top layer of scales opens up excessively. Frequent shampooing in this position makes the hair more vulnerable and brittle.
Rinse shampoo and other products under running water for at least 5 minutes – shampoo left on the skin can cause irritation. After that, repeat the procedure, and then apply a balm or mask to the length of the hair, excluding contact with the skin.