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This might be my personal biases talking, but I think it's more likely that they were worried about the parent's reaction.
"this was not the conversation we had prepared Mrs. Robek, the students or parents would take place."
I think kids of that age should learn that racism is stupid, arbitrary and socially constructed. Not sure that everyone agrees with that.
The excuse send to be "we weren't ready to have this discussion with the kids". Bullshit. When you have (or teach) kids, you often have to meet them where they are. If they're encountering topics of racism, you talk about it. And nine is plenty fucking old, so there's no copping out there, either.