Enough of Huff: Students of Long Beach Poly High School Speak Out

Our words have fallen on deaf ears. We have spoken ― we have been silenced. We have emotions ― they have been deemed unnecessary. We have asked for answers and apologies; in return, we have received neglect. We have voices.. We will be heard.

Libby Huff, a business teacher of Long Beach Polytechnic High School called her black student a “nigger”. She has put her hands on many of us students on multiple occasions and has verbally abused us as well. We normalized her behavior, and with her 11+ years at Poly and her Teacher Tenure, she has been able to go scot free. After a three week vacation, Huff is back in the same classroom to teach classes of all four grades including ethnic students, where she hasn't addressed the elephant in the room and gave taunting remarks of wishing for ‘a longer vacation’. Our discomfort and us walking-out from her class in protest has been judged as selfishness and “taking advantage of the situation”. We want justice. We are students and we are kids; but, most of all, we are HUMAN BEINGS.

Below are our stories.

Created on February 3, 2020

Enough of Huff: A Statement Compilation

Written By: Students of the PacRim Academy of Long Beach Polytechnic High School

This document is a compilation of individual statements by students grades 9–12 regarding the behavior of our Business teacher in the Pacific Rim Academy at Long Beach Polytechnic High School, Libby Huff. After the most recent event of Ms. Huff calling a black student a ‘nigger’, we have decided to share our individual stories (victimed and witnessed) in an effort to display that she has a track record in her behavior, and that we are not comfortable with her returning to teach us. Students have decided to remain anonymous in their statements, giving them more of a comfortability in being completely raw to avoid being questioned in the future individually. The black student’s name has been asterixed [*****] per their request.

1. I have been a student of Ms. Huff’s for about three years. This time I have realized the type of person she is. She wants the best for her students and does a great job teaching, which is good, but there is a darker side. Ms. Huff has been verbally and physically abusive to my fellow peers and I. In my cases of abuse she has held my wrist for an extended amount of time even when I told her to let go, and if I was to try and move my hand she would constrict my wrist harder, to the point where it was painful. Another example is when I was sitting in class during a lecture and Ms. Huff randomly threw a highlighter at my face because she thought I was talking. I was not talking at all during that class, and her excuse as to why that act was acceptable was because that is how she hands out highlighters.
2. It wasn’t right for her to call someone the n-word with ‘er’, it isn’t really right for anyone to say it. from what i’ve seen she’s pulled peoples ears and hair to wake them up if they sleep in her class, which also isn’t right for a teacher to do.
3. One day I was just relaxing at my desk paying attention to a lesson and I started to doze off because of a long day of testing. She decided to walk around the class while giving us her lecture, during this time I had my head on the desk. She then grabbed the back of my neck firmly and she lifted my neck forcefully, I thought that it was her waking me up, then she started to shake my neck. She shook my neck with force and it was pretty painful and shocking.
4. Last year, Ms. Huff had duck-taped ***** to one of the desks. I also recall students stating they had objects thrown at them. Some students had also been dragged or pushed to their desks.
5. I’m a student in the Pacrim Academy at Long Beach Polytechnic High school. I’m writing this on behalf of a situation that has occurred in our academy where one of our teachers Libby Huff or Ms. Huff called a black student the n-word. Being a part of the colored community I don’t believe that it is morally correct for her to come back. The student who had to experience this traumatic situation should not have to feel uncomfortable seeing this person. I didn’t have bad experiences with Ms.Huff although I did encounter some uncomfortable events. Once in class we were watching a film and students were on their phones instead of asking them to be put away respectively, she snatched them and threw them in their backpacks. Another time, she was arguing with a student over a grade in a way as if he was a baby which made the atmosphere very uncomfortable. On top of the things I witnessed with her, I often heard students talking about their experiences with her, many of them got things thrown at, hit, or simply bothered by her. As students, we are taught not to throw things , why is it acceptable for her to do it? I respected her as a teacher. She provided lots of help for me but what she did was not okay and all that respect was lost. Although, I don’t believe in hate and revenge, I hope she learns from this dishonorable event. However, I wouldn’t like for her to continue teaching me.
6. I can explain the times she’s smacked me. She’s invaded my privacy asking if I was in Mexico with my girlfriend. I’ve seen her hit a lot of students and it’s pretty much often. It’s been since 9th grade.
7. Freshman year when students wouldn’t stop talking she would slap them and get them to shut up and we never really thought anything of it so we laughed.
8. Unlike most of the students writing statements, I have only had Ms. Huff for 2 years, last year, and going forth, this year. Ms. Huff and I have had a strong relationship; for example, she has helped me network, showed me a path to help my current aspirations, and taught me the right way to handle situations in this life. This is why her position in the PacRim Pathway can seem irreplaceable, because without her, PacRim wouldn’t be the same. Although this is true, those positive acts can not excuse her heinous behavior. It is very apparent to me that Ms. Huff tends to use sarcasm to hide her extreme emotions. She will often sternly pull students by the ear and bring them wherever she pleases, snatch phones from students hands aggressively and open their backpacks to throw them in there herself, and call students incompetent or lacking the ability to do basic things. All of these can be avoided by asking a student to move from the computers to their desk, telling her students to put cell-phones away, or further explaining something even if she believes it should be obvious. Verbal abuse like, “to dumb it down for you guys..”, “because I know you all dont listen the first, second, or third time..”, and “in words you can all understand..” was a usual environment in the classroom. Huff talked to us as if we were babies by elongating her words out extensively with pauses and breaking down intellectual text in Layman’s terms with the notion that we aren’t capable of understanding. All of these dialogues were used with an intense tone and left the classroom uncomfortable, but oddly, completely normal. We normalized her behavior at an early time, because we often give excuses for other people. This is why we didn’t speak up any sooner. This situation with the black student has opened our eyes to the bigger picture. People now think that she crossed the line, but looking back, the line was nowhere near us. For us to be expected by the school to sit respectfully and promptly in the same seats and classroom that she created such a horrid environment in, and allow her to teach us is insulting. As such an ethnic and culturally activized class, we refuse. We expect more of this school, and we will not allow behavior like this to be tolerated thus forth.
9. Well for one, I don’t appreciate the way she conducts herself sometimes and how she treats my classmates. At certain times, she gives unnecessary attitude to her students such as slamming her hand on their desks and if i recall right, she tugged on one of her student’s shirts before. Overall, there’s times where she just doesn’t act professional as she should be, such as calling one of my classmates the n-word which is not acceptable at all.
10. Ms. Huff is a teacher that teaches us real world stuff that we’ll use in our daily life but the way she treats her students isn’t right. She hits them awake , tapes them to chairs , smacks their heads and pulls their ears. She smacked me in the head when I was playing around with another student. She could’ve just told me to stop instead of hitting me . Me along with our other classmates heard her say the n-word to a black student. If she could say a hateful racist comment to him what stops her from calling me a racist slur for Hispanics?
11. Some people came up to me and told me that she called ***** a nigger. When they told me, I wasn’t surprised because she has a history of doing things that teachers shouldn’t be doing. She has hit me, pulled my hair, and pulled my ear on multiple occasions. I have witnessed her do the same to other students.
12. Due to the rising concerns from the students we can agree on the fact that she’s not fitting for her job. During her reign of teaching she’s belittled my fellow classmates, has made an unsuitable environment and she has invaded people’s personal space. Not to mention she has racially profiled my classmate with slurs. She is not fit to be a teacher, the way she conducts herself is unprofessional of an adult. It is not acceptable how she treats the students and I stand for it no longer.
13. One time I was on the computers when we were doing a project and she hit me on my head because I was talking loud. This situation should get settled fairly.
14. I’ve decided to remain anonymous writing this statement. I feel that the principal or someone in high stature should give us more information on the situation and what has occurred. Regarding this situation I think it is absolutely ridiculous and sad what the outcome is. How Ms. Huff has only gotten a week off and almost no punishment. If she only got a week off will she really learn what kind of damage she’s done? In my opinion I don’t think someone can change their attitude or ways. In my two years of having Ms. Huff in some way or another she has publicly put one of her students down or on the spot in a rude way. One day in class she decided to throw a highlighter at a student for not paying attention. In my opinion there is no reasoning behind throwing a marker at a student, it just shouldn’t be done. If a student would have done these things then it would’ve been a totally different story. Yes, we are just teenagers and it is a totally different case with an adult. But either way anyone harassing someone in a rude way or sarcastic manner should not be allowed to do so whatsoever. Regardless, if they are an adult or a teen this kind of attitude is unacceptable in my opinion.
15. Ms. Huff’s behavior with students you can say is very ironic. It’s either her way or no way. She doesn’t know what personal space is and doesn’t respect her students’ personal space. She once dragged me by the hood of my jacket to my seat and told me to do my work. It bothered me because no teacher regardless of the situation should put their hands on a student especially the way she dragged me. I have witnessed her do this to other students as well, she has smacked kids on their head when they fall asleep in class to wake them up. She once took away a student’s phone and said she would give it back at the end of class and when the time came to give it back, she said she had lost it. She said she wasn’t responsible for losing it but that was unfair to the student because his parents had to buy him a whole new phone when Ms.Huff should’ve paid for a new one since she was the one who lost it and was responsible for it at the time. I believe that if she were to come back many of her students would be very uncomfortable with just being in her class because of what she had said to one of the students. I certainly would too.
16. I have felt uncomfortable with Ms. Huff in class , she uses sarcasm to talk to us and makes all of us feel uncomfortable. She is very passive-aggressive and doesn’t make a comfortable relationship and environment with her students as well as I think she could . Hearing about her saying the n-word is not that shocking because I’m sure she has said it before and was so comfortable, but nobody spoke up until now . Us as students should feel like we’re able to get along and learn from our teacher and the majority of us just want to get a grade and get out , or simply cannot build a good relationship with her due to her constant supremacy. Thank you.
17. As a part of a PacRim student, I didn’t really have a bad experiment with Ms.Huff but I would see a lot of rude things she would do. For example, she once purposely threw a pen or pencil to a student and it missed the student but hit the student behind them. The pencil almost hit the student’s eye which was very dangerous. Teachers are supposed to tell the students not to throw pencils at other students, not the other way around. Another time was when, during class we were watching a video and she was walking around the classroom she then came towards me and on my desk was my backpack and on top of it was my phone she then forcefully took my phone and opened my backpack and threw it in there. She could have asked respectfully and I would’ve put it away myself.
18. Personally, I’ve had many bad experiences with Ms.Huff. Sometimes I would accidentally fall asleep in her class and she would smack me awake with a stack of paper. She also felt comfortable pulling on students’ clothing, body parts, backpacks, etc. To say the least, I don’t feel safe or respected in her classroom or presence.
19. We as poly students SHOULD NEVER let these extremists acts even be thought of let alone be acted upon against 1 of our peers. I highly suggest that YOU A BROTHER/ A SISTER a poly jackrabbit step forward in this movement showing we would never allow this teacher 2 work on this historical campus AGAIN. What MS.HUFF did was call our peer a “nigger” and is not facing the proper reproctions. What do we look like as a school if we allow this teacher 2 make the same mistake. Racism SHOULD NEVER be tolerated especially coming out of a white teacher’s mouth 2 a student of color… matter of fact a young man of color Let’s stand firm together as a school & show we would never let this slide. We run this school, we all have dollar signs over our heads and these MS. HUFF’s, these MISeducators, these disrespectful devils are tormenting us daily. Why should we participate in these classrooms while we’re being disrespected daily? We are children before students & this school needs 2 recognize that.
20. Ms. Huff and Pacrim are practically synonymous with one another. However, her recent actions can not be excused by all the work that she has done. Her sarcastic personality, and physical contact with some students has been unacceptable and the lack of taking accountability for some of her actions has proven to be disappointing. While she is the heart of our program all actions come with consequences and I as a black student do not feel comfortable being in a class with a teacher who feels that is ok to use the n-word towards another black student and not feel repercussions. This would be another form of white privilege by letting her slide with just a “warning”. I hope that all her actions come with fair consequences as in effort to help protect future students.
21. I have been in Ms. Huff’s class for my first three years of highschool. Her class is what I least look forward to. She is physically and verbally abuse toward the students. I have seen it first hand and it happened to me first hand. When I was in middle school going to the 9th grade I was told by my older PamRim (our academy) friends that were already in high school the traumatic experiences they’ve gone through and to `watch out” for her. She has hit me, grabbed me aggressively by the neck and has verbally assaulted me. Poly highschool is in Long Beach in the middle of Cambodia town. It seems crazy to me that we are supposed to be a school of diversity and we have white teachers making racist remarks toward people of color. Some days I don’t feel like showing up to class because I know I’m going to deal with her bullshit. Nothing has changed since the first day of school till now. We once confronted her about her actions in the class and she feels that nothing will happen to her from her actions. She has created an uncomfortable environment for us to learn. It was finally time to take a stand.
22. I believe Ms.Huff should be held accountable for her actions. I once have been treated disrespectfully by Ms.Huff. Last year while we were taking pictures, she pulled my hoodie and moved me to the front With force. Her actions were unnecessary and she could have easily asked me politely to move. If Huff is allowed back the classroom would not be a safe and inviting place. Students should feel welcomed and safe inside the classroom.
23. To begin with, I’ve had Huff for entrepreneurship since the first day of entering Polytechnic High School. She has assisted me throughout this subject for about 3 years; helping me with the class and making sure I get my work done in a timely manner. Even though I have had good experiences with her in the classroom and on field trips, the appalling, discomforted, scenarios I have been a victim of, or witnessed, over arises it all. I’ll begin with my unacceptable experiences. She gave instructions for students to complete an assignment on the computers. Being told so, I was doing exactly that and my phone began to ring. I touched my device for a slight moment and as she was walking past me, she tugged on my right ear aggressively and grabbed the device out of my hand. I was NOT even on it, to be distracted from the assignment. I did not care about the fact she confiscated my device; I could care less, but what still bothers me till this day, is how she bluntly grabbed my ear. What was the purpose? My own mother has never done such, so what makes it acceptable for her to do so? In my opinion, if we’re all taught by those above/older than us to “keep our hands to ourselves” what justifies a teacher to do it? I’ve witnessed Ms. Huff treat my fellow classmates with blatant disrespect, several times. If a student puts their head down, she will forcefully grab/shake your head or a part of you; that was her way of “waking” you up. I’ve seen her throw pencils and highlighters directly at student’s faces. I was taught and told by every teacher i’ve ever encountered, to keep my hands to myself, to not throw objects, and to respect others. Teachers are supposed to set good examples to those they are helping to educate. Is that the case here? No. One time, my friend had a scarf on and she snatched it off her head without her permission and said, “What’s under that?” Invading an individuals privacy with no valid reason, is not right. Following along with the recent tragedy of calling a person of color the word “nigger” is ABSOLUTELY absurd! Nothing can justify the words she chose to say. Even an apology would NOT make it any better for any of us. Since freshman year of entering her class, I’ve grown less and less excited about attending this class because I am afraid if she will grab my ear, hair, or arm vigorously. I’m aware of how difficult it is to “fire” a teacher and that is not my intention here. I want my voice heard and the right actions and precautions to be made amongst the situation that NO student should ever experience in a classroom setting. Thank you.
24. First and foremost, I’d like to acknowledge ***** and the demeaning language used towards him. No young black kid should have to hear that from anyone. Second, I never really had anything negative or diminishing said to me by Ms.Huff, however she was very physical and wouldn’t hesitate to put her hands on a student. I’m not going to go as far as to say she inflicted pain upon me but she did hit me lightly a few times to “keep me focused”. This was never a big deal to me, but after I heard what she said to ***** I’m sure that everyone in class and myself will feel awkward about having her as our teacher again. None of us can look at her the same anymore.
25. Ever since last year I’ve always felt uncomfortable by the environment in Miss Huff’s class because of the way she negatively jokes and talks down on students. It’s also confusing on how she feels comfortable enough to “joke” about certain things like this with us as if we were close or these things are okay to say. It’s her attitude, sly comments, and moments like this that have really made me dread going to her class over the years which is very disappointing because I really like the curriculum and my fellow peers. Also as much as it hurts me to say this I’m not surprised about the incident because of the comments she’s made in the past, I guess one just went too far.
26. I believe I speak for most pacrim students when I say Ms Huff has been an incredible role model of an entrepreneur, one that is incredibly popular in the PacRim Academy. However, we can all admit that we’ve either witnessed or been victims of Ms Huffs aggressiveness in her classroom. When I say “aggressiveness’ ‘I don’t doubt that the first image you think of is extreme violence. This is partly why you may be in disbelief that such a bright teacher, one that has been working in the education department for so long, could be an aggressor. When I say “aggressiveness“, I don’t mean extreme violence, I mean “hostile”. I mean “bitter”. I’ve only ever been a victim of Ms. Huff’s harsh passive-aggressiveness, however I have witnessed many situations which, in other circumstances, would strike her as a bully. I recall a situation, from grade ten, where one of my peers was biting her nails. Ms. Huff noticed and, in disgust, she stopped her lesson. “Do you want some hot sauce?” she said. I looked up and chuckled along with 28 students, assuming she was joking. However, her facial expressions were only pure disgust. Not in an extremely harsh way, but a way that made it obvious she was not joking. She went on for another 45 seconds speaking to this student and almost belittling her for biting her nails, a habit many students have. Publicly shaming her, she says `That’s disgusting”. Another ten seconds of silence. Then back to the lesson. I was only glad that the student she was speaking to was one of the many self-righteous women in the class. She stopped biting her n es ails. Slouched a few inches into her seat. Did not speak. Grabbed her pencil and continued working. I remember thinking, “What if that was me?” If I had been called out in front of an entire classroom for a habit I do subconsciously everyday, I would be incredibly ashamed. Embarrassed. I’ve witnessed an uncountable amount of circumstances where Ms.Huff has laid a hand, a finger, pulled, pushed, slapped, shook, or startled a student. There are many other verbs that can replace any of the seven i just mentioned. I’ve seen her publicly shame her students. I’ve witnessed her grab students by the ear, seen her use an excessive amount of force to get a student to move. Aside from physical conditions, her passive-aggressiveness has made students uncomfortable before as well. When getting irritated, Ms. Huff is quick to change her tone of voice. Speaking like a baby to get students to understand, using her sarcastic humor on the wrong students, making the atmosphere uncomfortable. Why have we been silent for so long? Why are we just now speaking, especially anonymously, on behalf of our peers? Why, if it bothered us so much, are we speaking almost two years later? A sense of inferiority is what us students have experienced. Not understanding what could be a joke is what us students have experienced. For me, I have always wanted to say “Hey! Don’t grab him like that” or “Hey! Maybe just tap her to wake her up” but knowing Ms. Huff is a superior figure has always stopped me. “Maybe that’s just her way of playing around” has always stopped me. I was tempted to not write anything at first but, after seeing my peers speak up, I have been inspired to do the same. I, myself, have always liked Ms.Huff. She is not a bad teacher nor a terrible entrepreneur. She has taught me many things. But when I thought to myself ‘If it wasn’t a teacher, if it was another one of my peers, if it was a stranger, would it be different?’, I realized that her hostile behavior has sadly been normalized by me and every other student in Pacrim and after the event where she called ***** ******* a racial slur, I decided we, as students and friends, should officially speak up. Thank you.
27. I am a Pac Rim student in the 11th grade here at Poly, and I speak on behalf of myself in the situation when a racial slur was used towards me. On the last even day before winter break, Thursday December 19th, 2019, in class during a movie me and my fellow classmates were talking about the origin of the n-word. The discussion later became a debate from a disagreement. A few minutes passed and my classmate went to ask her where it came from, she then googled it and they talked for a minute. My classmate walks back and says “***** was right”. We continue talking about it after and Ms.Huff walks over to us and says with a stern tone looking at my classmate “DON’T F*CK WITH ME IT’S CHRISTMAS”, I then gather my things still looking at her. She turns directly to me and says “GET UP NIGGER”, without any words I stand up and walk over to the other side of the room and my classmate follows. On my way walking over she taps me on the shoulder and says “It was just a joke”.
28. One Last year (10th grade) in class during a group activity, a boy in class frequently kept getting up to blow his nose. It was about the third time he got up, he was done blowing his nose, and Ms.Huff forcefully yanked him by the hood of his jacket dragging him to the desk. She then grabbed a roll of tape, ripping a strip of it attempting to tape him to the chair. In the mix of him trying to unravel himself, the whole class continues laughing.
29. Sophomore year, Ms. Huff taped me to a chair. I was getting up to get a tissue and Ms. Huff quickly got up from her desk, rushed my way and grabbed me by my hood and dragged me to my seat and grabbed the tape on her desk, and taped me to my chair.
30. During a powerpoint she told the class to highlight a certain section of our paper. She scanned the room and saw that a girl about 5 feet away from her desk hadn’t done it yet, in a stern tone she told her directly. She replied “I don’t have a highlighter”, Ms.Huff then grabs the pencil box full of makers and throws it at her, hitting her in the face. The markers fly everywhere, and Ms.Huff tells her to pick them all up. There are many others, but this is just one incident I remember so vividly.
31. I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if there were many many other altercations students had to deal with, including alumni. In Pac Rim, you hear about these things so often, that it doesn’t surprise you. The big similarity between all of these situations is that no one ever had the courage to report it. Simply because they were scared that nothing would happen to her, which is a living example of what’s happening now. Many were scared of what other students and even teachers were going to think, and how it would affect them personally. I myself took a stand, and decided that enough was enough. I realized that she put so much fear into us that she began to gain power. My incident was only a precursor for many other things to come to light. I know from my personal experience now that when the abuser has so many great qualities out for display, people from the outside looking in don’t see the monster that is being masked.

Administrators, parents, fellow classmates, and readers may ask why we haven’t spoken up sooner. If we were in the position of the spectator, we would ask ourselves the same question. Normalized behavior is what her classroom lives. Ms. Huff’s sarcastic, passive-aggressive nature has led us in belief that her behavior is acceptable, because its Ms. Huff. We have given her excuses and neglected her behavior in being assaulted or abused, and are being neglected by the school in return. They are putting us in a position that only defines her [white] supremacy, and the school’s lack of care for us students in the hostile environment she created. They expect us to “get over it”. We are being told that in order for actions to be taken, we need to have tolerance. We disagree. We have remained tolerant for 3–4 years, and nothing has changed.

Some students are silent ― with the notion that no changes will be made, or their voices are too small to pronounce ― because Huff had once told us that telling the Admins wouldn’t make a difference; “They won’t get rid of me!”, she says to her students. After she called our black classmate a “nigger”, we realized that she was right. Huff is back from her vacation unapologetic, nose turned up, with only a slap on the wrist and a grin on her face. She is here, and she is here to stay. The fact of the matter: We are speaking up now. We expect more from a school of such diversity and held in such high regard. So much for “In loco parentis”. We have the right to feel comfortable in a classroom. We have had Enough of Huff.