Civil rights group protests racially incendiary online remarks by a Jefferson Parish school psychologist

Published: Monday, May 21, 2012, 4:11 PM     Updated: Monday, May 21, 2012, 6:11 PM

By Mark Waller, The Times-Picayune

A civil rights organization that has been issuing complaints about the Jefferson Parish school system's treatment of black and special education students is adding to its grievances by spotlighting racially incendiary comments posted on the Internet by a school psychologist in Jefferson. The comments under scrutiny appeared on NOLA.com and Twitter.

Eden Heilman, a lawyer with the Southern Poverty Law Center, said the online remarks provide greater evidence of potential racial biases in the way the school system channels students into alternative schools.
The school psychologist, Mark Traina, has worked with alternative schools and in central administration with the process of referring children to those campuses. Traina argued on Monday that his online opinions are well-reasoned and that they do not reflect on the way the school system operates.
"The Southern Poverty Center knows that these allegations are ABSOLUTELY NOT TRUE!," Traina wrote in an education forum on NOLA.com last week, using his own name as he criticized the center's earlier allegations. "This is just another way to harass the Jefferson Parish Public School System. One only needs to read the Times Picayune to see who the real trouble makers are. Sadly, it is disproportionately young black males. Everyone knows that our jails throughout the United States are disproportionately filled with black people. Why would the rate be any different in an educational environment?"
He cited what he said are statistics about high incarceration rates among African-Americans and high crime in predominantly black neighborhoods.
"Even one of the best known Civil Rights Activists in America recently indicated (I won't mention any names) that it is MUCH safer to walk through a predominately white neighborhood after dark than in black neighborhood," he wrote.
"I live in Slidell land I MUST admit it is one of the safest places that I have ever lived in the State of Louisiana," he wrote. "All I can say is, 'Thank God for Lake Pontchartrain.'"
His posts on Twitter, also using his real name, are more heated, including a January comment that, "Young Black Thugs who won't follow the law need to be put down not incarcerated. Put down like the Dogs they are!"
In a March comment about an article on a violent incident in New Orleans, he wrote, "Quick someone call David Duke before the NAACP gets here!"
Remarking in March about the Republican presidential primaries, he wrote, "I grew up in Mississippi, Alabama and Louisiana - I am a Wallace Man at Heart!"
Heilman said the comments bolster the Southern Poverty Law Center's case, providing a rare glimpse into the personal attitude of an official who works with troubled students.
"He has some, my take on it, some pretty clear biases," Heilman said. She said Traina has participated in meetings discussing individual student's cases with the law center.
"It's particularly alarming to have someone who works for the school system in a position of authority be pro-segregation," she said, referring to his remark about George Wallace, segregationist governor of Alabama.
Traina said Monday that he stands by his online commentary and that it doesn't apply to the functioning of the school system.
"I don't represent the Jefferson Parish school system," Traina said. "I represent Mark Traina. I make that very clear in my comments."
He argued some of the law center's allegations against the Jefferson system are unfair.
"Everything I said is fact-based, backed up by data," he said. "I don't have a prejudiced bone in my body. I'm not a racist. I'm a realist."
When another commentor on NOLA.com called Traina's language harsh and brash, he responded in a posting saying, "Maybe I do need an attitude adjustment."
"I did not intend for my message to come across as being insensitive or harsh," he wrote. "I am a little frustrated with the way the Southern Poverty Law Center interprets data."
He continued, "I have often encouraged people of all races to get their children out of run down urban environments. Move to the country where there is more open spaces, fresher air, less crime and safer schools. I truly love people of all races, creeds and colors and I have dedicated my like (sic) to serving children. Over the years I have seen so many young lives destroyed by drugs and crime in our communities."
Acting schools Superintendent James Meza said that he learned about the issue involving Traina on Monday. He said the U.S. Department of Education's office of civil rights is sending representatives to visit the school system this week as the agency investigates the center's filings.
"We'll begin an investigation," into the Traina matter, Meza said. "We have to do an investigation with our attorneys."
The law center, based in Montgomery, Ala., has filed two complaints about Jefferson Parish public schools with the federal Education Department.
In January the center alleged that law enforcement officers who work in schools disproportionately arrest black students for disciplinary matters that should be handled by school officials. Jefferson officials denied that the system discriminates. The Education Department's civil rights office agreed to investigate the situation in March, leading to this week's visits by federal officials.
On Thursday the law center filed another complaint about the Jefferson Parish system, alleging that it sends black children and children with disabilities to alternative schools for struggling students in inflated numbers. The center said children then linger in the remedial settings, which often fail to address their needs. It added the Traina comments to that complaint on Friday.
The School Board on Wednesday voted to close three of its alternative schools as standalone sites. The program at Ralph Bunche Academy in Metairie is moving to the campus of Alfred Bonnabel Magnet Academy High in Kenner. St. Ville Academy in Harvey is moving to John Ehret High in Marrero. And the Waggaman School is merging onto the campus of the West Bank Community School in Marrero.
Heilman said cutting separate alternative school sites fails to address the center's concerns because it doesn't change how the programs operate.
"It's not as much the location of the kids, it's the educational issue," and referral rates, she said.