A Richmond Public Schools teacher identified as a female is currently on administrative leave after a video of a confrontation with a student over speaking Spanish sparked criticism from the community and calls to deal with long-standing issues for Latino students in the city.

RPS officials made the decision Monday, after a video recording was publicly shared last week of a teacher at Boushall Middle School allegedly berating a sixth-grade Latino student, who wished to not be identified at this time, for speaking Spanish.

In the video, the teacher allegedly ordered the student to stop speaking Spanish in the class because they didn’t understand it, called on them to appreciate “the benefit of English-speaking language” as an American resident and told the student to “go wherever that is - that Spanish-speaking country is - and speak it” instead of in the class.

The teacher also claimed that the Richmond School Board would support her efforts and actions for the student to speak English in class.

“You’re not going to run my class like that, period,” the teacher said, “and the School Board will back me up.”

However, school officials apparently do not agree with the teacher. “Racism, bigotry, and intolerance of any kind will not be tolerated at Richmond Public Schools,” said Renesha Parks, chief wellness officer for RPS in a statement. “While we cannot comment further on personnel matters, please know that RPS happily serves a diverse group of students across many races and nationalities. We will continue to support and advocate for them all.”

The decision came hours before a Richmond School Board meeting Monday night at Thomas Jefferson High School that saw Latino RPS students and graduates, community members and more decry the teacher’s actions and call for measures to address language barriers and other issues in schools.

“What I want is for the Hispanics, don’t be afraid to speak out,” said one woman who identified herself as the mother of the student. “As parents we have to be willing to defend our children.”

A common point made by public speakers at the meeting was that the incident was a symptom of larger problems facing Latino students in the Richmond school system, from a lack of resources to teachers not properly trained to educate these students, leading to academic problems that have persisted for years.

According to RPS reports, Latino students have continued to lag behind other student demographics when it comes to on-time graduation, with 2022 seeing 44.2 percent of Latinos graduating on time, a 13 percent drop from 2021. Data from the Virginia Department of Education showed that this was the lowest on-time graduation rate in the state for Latino students last year.

Concerned groups have been pressing RPS to address these and other problems for years, according to Rachel F. Gomez, president of the Richmond Region League of United Latin American Citizens.

Months earlier, Richmond LULAC approached the School Board with a proposal for a commission that would investigate the academic and non-academic issues facing Latino RPS students, after hearing several anonymous testimonies from teachers on their poor treatment. That proposal eventu- ally became the Task Force on Latino and English Learner Students.

However, Ms. Gomez said that no real progress has been made, and this incident and the testimonies of those with similar experiences, for her, only underscores the need for immediate action to address these problems.

“We can’t wait for a task force to get engaged,” Ms. Gomez said. “Our families are suffering.”

An investigation into the teacher’s conduct is underway within RPS. Richmond LULAC, meanwhile, met with the family of the student in the video Wednesday evening to discuss their next potential steps, including potentially filing complaints with RPS, the Richmond ACLU and the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights.