Westview student's costume wasn't Klan outfit, dad says

By Blanca Gonzalez
San Diego Union-Tribune
Nov. 11, 2007

RANCHO PENASQUITOS – The Halloween garb worn by a Westview student last week was a ghost costume, not a Klan outfit, the boy's father said yesterday.

“My son is not racist. He was more naive than malicious,” said the father, whose name is not being used because he said he feared his son could be subject to harassment.

The father called The San Diego Union-Tribune yesterday after print and broadcast media publicized reports of the incident, one of two that has prompted a parents group to call for diversity and tolerance training in the Poway Unified School District.

The group, Concerned Parents Alliance, said the Westview High student wore a costume resembling a Ku Klux Klan outfit on Halloween. The group also was concerned about an incident last month in which a noose was found hanging in a boys bathroom at Poway High School in Poway.

Westview is in Rancho Peñasquitos, and both Westview and Poway High are in Poway Unified. District officials said the two incidents were isolated and did not reflect the broader culture of the schools or the district.

District officials were unable to determine who was responsible for the noose.

The Westview student's father said he was concerned that his son's costume was misconstrued. Contrary to some reports, he said, it did not have a cone-shaped headpiece.

“It was a ghost costume made by his aunt 10 years ago,” he said. “He and his brother had worn it on and off for years.”

The father said he didn't want to be seen merely as a parent proclaiming his son's innocence; he also wanted to prevent a controversy about race at the school. “I was on my way to work (yesterday) morning and heard a report about it on KPBS,” he said. “I just went, 'Oh my gosh, this is getting way out of hand.' ”

He said he agreed with the Concerned Parents Alliance that the district could benefit from more diversity and tolerance training.

His son wore the costume to school on Halloween, he said, but took it off when a teacher and other students suggested it looked similar to a Klan robe. The boy put the costume back on at lunch, at the urging of some friends, the father said.

School officials said the boy was immediately escorted to the office when an administrator saw him wearing the costume the second time. The father said the boy, who was suspended for two days, apologized to classmates.

Superintendent Don Phillips said he's been told that the boy has friends who are black, and they have said the teen is not racist.

“Sometimes kids don't understand that some symbolism can be really, really powerful and hurtful,” Phillips said.

“Whether it was meant to be a ghost costume or not, it was not interpreted that way,” Phillips said. He said the district recognizes the need to create greater sensitivity among students.

“We have had those conversations and we are continuing to have those conversations,” he said.