SANTA ANA : Board Halts Student ‘Senior Auction’

A fund-raising event at Century High School, in which students bid on seniors who would make and serve them lunch, was criticized before the school board this week as conjuring insensitive images of slave sales.

The sale has been an annual event at the school for four years.

Lucinda Watson, a senior at Century High School, asked the Santa Ana Unified Board of Education on Tuesday to ensure that similar events are never scheduled at any district school.

“Century High School students would never think of having a National Wheelchair Day. It’s insulting to handicapped students. (Or) a National Hitler Day proclaiming the Holocaust never occurred. It’s insulting to Jewish students. Or a National Wet T-shirt Day, it’s insulting to female students. Then why a national Slave Auction Day?” she asked the board.

Board members said they had not previously heard about the annual event, but condemned it as offensive.

“I am personally appalled. I’m dismayed that it has been allowed to go on so long,” Trustee Audrey Yamagata-Noji said.

The weeklong senior class fund-raiser, billed as a “senior auction” with no reference to slaves, began March 6. But it was halted the same day because of criticism that it was racially offensive.

The event resumed a few days later as an auction of lunches only, said Ken Stokesberry, the school’s student activities coordinator.

“We wanted to use this as a learning tool and discuss (with students) how we could present the event in a way what would be acceptable by all. It would have been very easy for me to simply cancel everything, and that sends the wrong message. I wanted everyone to learn from this,” Stokesberry said.

At the board meeting, senior district administrators said they will discuss the event with school principals to emphasize the importance of racial sensitivity.