Mother upset ‘black boy’ written on son’s backpack: ‘I worry about his safety’

A Las Cruces mother is demanding an apology after “black boy” was written on her son’s backpack at Camino Real Middle School.

The mother told ABC-7’s New Mexico Mobile Newsroom her son is a seventh grade student. “When my son walks in the door of that school, I worry about his safety,” the mother told ABC-7, “He should be treated as a boy who is smart, celebrated for the color of his skin.”

The woman said she was getting her son’s backpack ready for school back in January when she noticed what had been written on it. “I asked him, ‘who put this on your back pack?’ and he says, ‘mom, I don’t now.’ I told him someone wrote ‘black boy’ on his backpack and he said he did not know who did it,” the mother said.

The mother has filed every email and interaction she’s had with the Las Cruces Public Schools district regarding the issue since she first reported it in January.

In one of the emails, an associate superintendent wrote, “I completely understand and empathize with your frustration in this matter and please know – as a district – we are actively trying to address issues such as the one you bought forward.”

“That’s great, but I worry about nothing being done for my son at Camino Real,” the mother said, “I worry about not receiveing an apology from Camino Real saying this is terrible, horrible, disgusting and this will not be toloerated at our school.”

The mother further stated, “for the school and the district to somewhat disregard the fact that our son has gone thourgh this, telling us ‘we can’t do anything becasue we don’t know who did it’ seems preposterous to me.”

The mother told ABC-7 she wants to keep her son at Camino Real becasue she doesn’t want to run away from the issue.

“When you have a black son, things are very different, very different,” she said.

The Las Cruces Public School District sent back this statement:

“Las Cruces Public Schools does not comment on disciplinary action taken against any individual students. Student disciplinary records are protected by federal law under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act.

However, the district has strict policies against bullying, intimidating and offensive conduct. We take these matters very seriously, thoroughly investigate all allegations and take appropriate action when necessary.”