“They were running around trying to spell raccoon, but they didn’t have the R and the A,” said Horry “I don’t believe it that five Caucasian teachers, not one of them knew that. Maybe one didn’t know it, maybe two didn’t know it, but all 5 didn’t know it?”
Not everyone believes what the teachers did was intentional.
Basketball coach John Smith said, “This isn’t our school this was a mistake. Everybody in the world makes mistakes, everybody in the world has faults and this is just a little fault that we’ve had. This is not our school. I truly believe that they did not know what they were posting.”
The district is investigating the incident and vowed to seek appropriate disciplinary action if warranted. For now, they released the following statement:
“We recognize that this ill-informed action caused hurt and offense to many students and families in our school and in the wider community. We offer no excuse as to why this word was used. In a statement to families last night, we apologized for the incident and sought their forgiveness. We also ask that of anyone who has been impacted by this picture.”
The St. Charles County NAACP branch president will be reaching out to district leaders.