Mom to pull child from International School of Indiana amid racist attacks
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — A Black student at the International School of Indiana claims she has experienced a series of racial confrontations from other students at the school.
“A meme that I got sent (showed) a picture of someone holding a cotton plant and under it was (the words) ‘When you ask a black girl to prom,’” said Gabby Portis, 15, a freshman at International School of Indiana.
Portis says that is just one of many examples of racism she’s faced this year at school.
“Kids, they throw around the N-word like it’s their own word,” Portis said. “I just look in the mirror and be like, ‘I don’t see anything wrong with me.’”
Portis says she’s been present for when non-Black students have directly called Black students the racial slur. Her mom, Brittany Graves, says once she heard what was happening to her daughter, she went straight to the principal’s office.
The principal “was like, ‘We can get Gabby counseling.’ My daughter doesn’t need counseling. Those kids need counseling,” Graves said.
The mother says students have been suspended, but, once their suspension was over, the racist attacks against her daughter continued.
Graves said one kid asked Gabby for money for the vending machine, “and another kid was like, ‘Why would you ask her for some money? She’s Black. Black people don’t have any money.’”
Gabby’s mother says the attacks escalated to the point where she felt the need to pull her daughter out of school for days on end out of fear for her safety.
Elizabeth Head, the head of the school, gave a statement to I-Team 8:
“The International School of Indiana (ISI) is an inclusive, diverse, and respectful community. ISI does not tolerate racial intolerance or other discriminatory conduct and takes reports of such alleged misconduct very seriously. Such reports are investigated promptly and thoroughly in order to gain a complete understanding of what allegedly happened. After investigating, ISI takes firm and appropriate steps to remedy and address any misbehavior. The nature of those steps depends upon the severity of what occurred.
“As ISI’s policy is that matters concerning students are confidential, the School is unable to provide details of specific situations.”
The school touts campuses at 4330 N. Michigan Road and at 200 W. 49th Street on its website.
Graves says the suspensions were not enough and now says this week will be Gabby’s last week at International School of Indiana.
“You hear of kids killing themselves because of this situation,” Graves said. “At the end of the day, she’s still a kid.”
Graves says she asked the school if Gabby could stay home and do virtual learning this week. She says Gabby was denied that opportunity because it was “not COVID-related.”