Back to Boarding School? Teacher Allegedly Punches Pit River First Grader   
      
      
      
   Marc Dadigan   
      
      
      
   10/2/14   
      
      
      
      
   A first grade teacher is being investigated for allegedly punching a Pit River   
   Tribe first grader at a school in the same Northern California district where   
   there have been multiple reports of institutional prejudice and bullying   
   against Native students,    
   including two racist notes that were posted on Native American high school   
   students' lockers this March.   
      
   On September 24 at Fall River Elementary, Solfdo-o-dachi (Uchi) Gali Garcia   
   said he was standing at his desk, putting papers away in his folder, when the   
   teacher told all the students to sit down, said Morning Star Gali, Uchi's   
   mother and the Pit River    
   Tribe's Tribal Heritage and Preservation Officer.   
      
   When Uchi didn't immediately sit down, the teacher came over to his desk, and   
   punched him in the arm, Gali said.   
      
   Gali took the 38-pound Uchi to the Pit River Health Service, where doctors   
   said he had a contusion on his arm, Gali said, and he struggled sleeping that   
   night due to the pain.   
      
   "He was scared. He felt like he couldn't tell anybody," Gali said. "This isn't   
   boarding school days. There is already an investigation into problems at the   
   school, and now a white teacher assaulted a Native child and they don't seem   
   to be taking action."   
      
   Shasta County Sheriff Deputy Quentin Johnston said the department was   
   investigating the incident, but couldn't comment until the case was closed.   
   They also have not released the name of the teacher.   
      
   Fall River Joint Unified School District administrators did not return calls   
   requesting comment.   
      
   Gali was also dismayed when her son came home from school the next day to   
   report that three deputies had taken him out of class, and two talked to him   
   about "telling lies," Gali said. The boy told Gali he asked for her, but the   
   deputies told him it was a    
   "private conversation," Gali said.   
      
   "If he asked for me, and they didn't call me, then that's breaking the law,"   
   Gali said. "I don't want to believe my son was hit by a teacher, but his story   
   isn't changing."   
      
      
   Solfdo-o-dachi (Uchi) Gali Garcia, a first grade Pit River Tribal student,   
   told his mother Morning Star Gali that he was punched in the arm September 24   
   by his teacher at Fall River Elementary in Northern California. (Marc Dadigan)   
   Solfdo-o-dachi (Uchi) Gali Garcia, a first grade Pit River Tribal student,   
   told his mother Morning Star Gali that he was punched in the arm September 24   
   by his teacher at Fall River Elementary in Northern California. (Marc Dadigan)   
      
   Sgt. Johnston said only one deputy went to the school to interview Uchi, and   
   the other two were there on "other business." He said the boy did not ask for   
   his mother during the conversation.   
      
   The incident is the latest in a series of reports and complaints of systemic   
   discrimination in Northern California school districts.   
      
   In March, two Native American students at Burney Junior-Senior High School   
   received threatening notes that read "Watch Your Red-skinned Back" and "White   
   Pride Bitch" left on their lockers. One of them may have been targeted in part   
   because she was    
   defending another younger Pit River boy who reportedly was being harassed,   
   assaulted and called homophobic slurs due to his long hair.   
      
   RELATED: 'Watch Your Red-skinned Back': Racist Notes Surface in California   
   Schools   
      
   RELATED: Lawsuit Against California Districts Allege Abuse of Native Students   
      
   In the months leading up to the notes, Pit River parents had been meeting to   
   discuss racist bullying at the schools and the lack of response by school   
   district administrators. They have since been in touch with California Indian   
   Legal Services and the    
   American Civil Liberties Union.   
      
   Gali said she felt school administrators similarly have tried to downplay her   
   concerns about the alleged punch, even though she said they told her they were   
   conducting their own investigation.   
      
   In the week prior to the incident, she'd had her request to transfer Uchi to   
   another class denied. She said Uchi had loved kindergarten, but was constantly   
   in trouble in this teacher's class, once earning 10 discipline tickets in one   
   day.   
      
   After Gali reported what her son said about the punch, school officials   
   authorized the transfer to another class, she said.   
      
      
   Read more at http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2014/10/0   
   /back-boarding-school-teacher-allegedly-punches-pit-river-first-grader-157157   
      
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