111919 432
Students from Dennison are calling for an outside investigation into diversity and racism in their school. Denison Community Schools is looking into a high school teacher’s use of a racial slur in class discussions.
A group of students walked out of their classes this morning and stood near the school’s driveway. Some held up signs denouncing racism. Senior Joel Bonilla was in one of the classes where teacher Crystal Holt recently said the “n” word. He says Denison is a very diverse community and the use of the word is unacceptable.
"We have African Americans, we have Hispanics, we have Asians we have a large multi-diverse town and population. And it just looks bad that the school has been doing this for too long and it's just not okay."
Bonilla and other students say there have been other issues with racism and diversity in the school. They’re calling for an outside source to investigate. Holt is on administrative leave.
Superintendent Michael Pardun said an internal investigation into the incident is ongoing. Holt defended her use of the word as adding to historical context to a class discussion about the death penalty.
Lower-than-expected November runoff into the Missouri River has moved up the schedule for reductions of water release rates from the river's reservoirs.
Inflows into reservoirs at Gavins Point Dam near Yankton, South Dakota, and upstream at Fort Randall Dam since Nov. 1 have been lower than forecast, and the level at the Garrison Dam reservoir upstream also has dropped at a faster rate than forecast, allowing the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to evacuate this year's runoff through the dams quicker.
