A white headmaster at a private New York Catholic school has been placed on temporary leave after he allegedly ordered an 11-year-old Black student to get on his knees and apologize to one of his teachers, reports say.
The alleged incident involving Headmaster John Holian of the St. Martin de Porres Marianist school in Uniondale occurred Feb. 25 and came to light in early March after the boy’s mother, Trisha Paul, called the school to complain.
Holian reportedly told Paul that he had implemented his own unique brand of discipline, which he called the “African way,” according to The Associated Press.
The boy, whose name is Trayson, got in trouble in English class for finishing a reading assignment early and then starting other classwork before his peers had caught up.
To reprimand him, the teacher ripped up the boy’s paper and marched him to Holian’s office, the AP reported. There, the headmaster forced the sixth grader to drop to his knees and apologize to the teacher.
Paul said she called the school March 1 to confront Holian about the matter and asked if forcing students to kneel was standard disciplinary practice, reports said.
Holian admitted the approach was not standard protocol and explained that he had learned the practice from a Nigerian father who said it was an “African way” of apologizing, the boy’s mother said.
“Once he started mentioning this African family, that’s when it just clicked,” said Paul, who is Haitian American, in an interview with the New York Daily News. “Like, this is not normal procedure. I felt there was no relevance at all. Is he generalizing that everyone who is Black is African? That’s when I realized something is not right with this situation.”
After becoming aware of the episode, the newspaper reached out to the school officials, who sent an email to parents announcing that Holian had been placed on leave pending the results of an internal investigation.
“I want to assure you that St. Martin’s neither condones nor accepts the actions of our headmaster,” acting Headmaster James Conway wrote in the email Friday. “The incident does not reflect our long, established values or the established protocols regarding student-related issues.”
Holian declined to comment on the specifics of Paul’s complaint, saying only that “we love our students here” and noting that the “vast majority” of students at the school are minorities.
Since the incident, Paul said her son, who is normally outgoing, has become emotionally withdrawn.
“My son was humiliated, hurt, embarrassed, sad and confused,” she said.
“He reads about things happening because of your skin color. To experience it. ... he’s just trying to process it in his 11-year-old brain.”
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