Support Asian Indian Teacher Raj Bansal in Piscataway

If you believe in equal rights, human dignity and stand for truth, then please sign this petition.

Yet another Indian Tenured Teacher in Piscataway is Being Harassed and Racially Discriminated.

A petition to the Piscataway Board of Education and Superintendent of Schools to end racial discrimination against Mrs. Raj Bansal, the only Indian tenured teacher among 250 teachers in 6 elementary schools of Piscataway School District.

Raj Bansal has been a dedicated educator for sixteen years; since 1993 in Piscataway district. She has an outstanding educational record and has won numerous awards and recognitions as a teacher. In 2005, she has won the Students Teachers Achieving Results Award for winning lessons. Her qualifications also include a 4.0 GPA in her M.A. in Educational Administration from Kean University. Despite her Administrative degree she was never considered for the job of Principal. The rumors are someone told her, This job is not for Asians.

She is happily married and has raised two brilliant sons; both attending Princeton University. As a valued member of Indian-American community, Raj Bansal is a role model for not only her students, but also her students parents and the community at large. She has repeatedly emphasized the value of education. Her presence in Piscataway encourages minority youth to overcome the obstacles, achieve and succeed. Since February 2008, Raj Bansal has faced unreasonable and disproportionate scrutiny by unqualified examiners because of her ethnic background and race. Her requests and concerns were ignored; instead, she was subjected to multiple subjective evaluations. Mrs. Bansal made every effort to work with the administration. The superintendent Robert Copeland on his first meeting with her, without any discussion told her that she needs a psychiatric evaluation because of her disjointed expressions and abnormally paranoid behavior. Mrs. Bansal has repeatedly asked for specific examples of her behavior that the Superintendent claims to be disjointed or abnormally paranoid, to no avail. On Oct. 15, 2009 in a open Public Meeting the School board went along with the recommendation of the Superintendent that she be subjected to a psychiatric evaluation without having any debate among the members or replying to Mrs. Bansals request for specific examples of her behavior.

In a community which is one quarter Asian-Indian, it is very upsetting to see this latest incident of character assassination of and professional incompetence being ascribed to Mrs. Raj Bansal. Piscataway School District has a history of mistreating its Indian teachers since the days of another Indian Dr. Piyush Aggarwal with a Ph.D., and an illustrious career, who was denied the post of superintendent despite the fact that he was working as superintendent all the time because the official superintendent had all kinds of ethics, moral and behavioral problems. A large number of Indian teachers like Anita Kaur, Sunila Sharma, Nisha Diddi and more have quit because of deliberate and intentional negative evaluation to stop them from becoming tenured teachers in the district purely on racial grounds.

The classic case is of Mrs. Uma Swaminathan who was referred to as Rosa Parks of Indian Community by India Abroad newspaper for putting a brave fight against her suspension on fabricated grounds under racial bias. After 3 years, she was reinstated by the Courts and the Board squandered taxpayers hard earned money to justify their illegal actions to destroy a competent school teacher because of her ethnic Indian background.
If Indian Teachers are treated this way in Piscataway School District, do you ever wonder how the Indian children are being treated, how the other minorities are being treated?

I know that Mrs. Bansal is a caring, loving, compassionate, intelligent and competent teacher who gives 100\% to her students, while maintaining the district expectations.

We urge you to stand against racial injustice, lies and intolerance. We urge you to hold the administrative staff accountable for their indiscriminate actions and prejudice under racial bias. We urge you to defend Raj Bansals civil and human rights. We want Piscataway School District to end this racial discrimination and start treating the minorities with dignity and respect.

Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere " ~ M.L. King

I fully agree with this petition that there should be administrative accountability in Piscataway School District and they must stop racial discrimination to Asian Indians and other minorities. Further they must stop harassing Mrs. Raj Bansal and withdraw their illegal order for Psychiatric evaluation issued under racial bias against her.