Hello all,

I just wanted to run something by you to see if I have taken something the wrong way. I am a teacher. I am working at a summer program which is not my regular campus. I would say we all know either other by face and generally by name, but because it is only 16 days, we don't have the chance to know each other extremely well.

Nonetheless, yesterday, the office staff was looking for me. They called into my room, but I was not there, as I was helping a student inside a classroom. Well, they sent a student to look for me. Apparently, they told him to look for a "dark-skinned teacher with dreads". So, when the student found me, he informed me that I needed to assist in the office. He then said in front of the entire class, including the other teacher, that he wasn't sure if it was me, but they told him to look for "a dark-skinned teacher with dreads". While this does fit my description, I can't help but feel that the office staff was unprofessional of describing me this way. I'd rather the student had not repeated it this way, but I guess I cannot hold much against the student, as he is not an adult who should have known better.

The easiest fix would have been to just look up my name and make an all-call from the intercom. Or, to say, Go find the resource teacher. I'd say 95% of the students and teachers are black, including the office staff and the student who brought me the message. The other teacher was white, and a few students are white. This made me slightly embarrassed, and I would have felt the same if the staff had been 100% black. Am I reading too much into this?