01.17.25 Read Time: 3 min Families and Students Demand Action Following Racist Attacks Above: Ernest Lawrence Middle School student Sal’Vyion Torres (second from left) stands outside the LAPD Devonshire Station in Northridge with his parents and grandparents during a press conference about his attack. In early December, Sal’Vyion Torres, a Black middle school student, was violently attacked and called racial slurs by a white parent as he was leaving Ernest Lawrence Middle School in the Valley. A month before, the same parent had threatened and harassed another Black student. But rather than take action to hold the adult attacker accountable after the first incident against eighth-grader Gregory King, the school administration’s response was to issue “safety plans” for Torres and King, advising them to avoid confrontations with the attacker and not leave campus unaccompanied. In the subsequent weeks, the administration failed to take any meaningful steps to respond to the trauma King and Torres endured or protect students from further harm. The police still had not apprehended the attacker or even provided a copy of the report to the Torres family. So, in late December, parents, community members, and civil rights activists held a press conference outside the LAPD Devonshire Station in Northridge. Sal’Vyion’s mother Adrina Torres said her son doesn’t feel safe at school. She added “LAPD is not helping us at all, no answers, nothing.” More than two weeks after the attack, but just hours after the December 23 press conference, LAUSD finally issued a notice to the Lawrence MS community about what had occurred and offered counseling services for students. Gregory’s mother Eliza Franklin says the lack of response by Lawrence MS administration to protect King and Torres represents a larger pattern at the school. “The principal’s failures are not just administrative,” Franklin told Carvalho and the school board during Tuesday’s board meeting. “They represent a dangerous pattern of enabling racism and violence. When my son Gregory was verbally assaulted with racial slurs and threats of physical violence, the principal did nothing. When Sal’Vyion became the victim of a hate crime assault by the same white parent again, the principal did nothing.” On January 6, Students Deserve, the San Fernando Valley NAACP, and Black Lives Matter LA mobilized a walk-in at Lawrence MS alongside concerned parents and community members to demand administration address the harassment and violence against Black students. The next day, the attacker was finally apprehended by the LAPD. This week, students, parents, and community members took their demands to the school board. The list of demands includes immediately removing the principal and assistant principal, banning the attacker from all LAUSD property, requiring racial justice training for all staff and contractors, establishing a trained community-based safety team to keep students safe on their way to and from school, creating a crisis team, and more. At the start of the school year, the district removed race as a factor in determining which schools get funding for resources and staffing to carry out the Black Student Achievement Plan — effectively taking the B out of BSAP. The move came from pressure by a national conservative parent group and will shift BSAP resources away from Black students, despite the original intent of the program. Last year in our contract negotiations, we won an agreement with the district to codify the Black Student Achievement Plan into our contract and to fund resources, staffing, and professional development for BSAP schools. This year, UTLA members voted to protect and expand BSAP as part of our Win Our Future platform of contract demands. Sign the letter to demand Carvalho and the district immediately reverse their decision, commit to transparency and shared decision-making with the BSAP steering committee, and permanently increase funding to fully implement BSAP programs. Recent News See All Posts Thousands Hit School Sidewalks for Immigration Rights 05.02.25 California Educator Unions Announce Launch of ‘We Can’t Wait’ Statewide Campaign 05.02.25 Citizens of the World Educators United Vote 100% YES for Contract Platform 17.12.24 Select Language English Español