Missouri School Under Fire After Photo of Five Teachers Holding Up Letters Spelling Out A Racial Slur Surfaced On Social Media
A Missouri branch of the NAACP and several parents are demanding change after five teachers were shown in a social media post holding up a sign with a racial slur on it.
“I’m angry, I’m hurt because I trust you with my child,” one parent who’s child attends a school in the Christian School District in O’Fallon, Missouri said.
The photo displays employees from the Christian School District rearranging letters to put together the word “coons.” Then someone posted the photo to social media, parents told KSDK the photo was also on the school district’s website. Principal Jake Ibbetson told 5 On Your Side that wasn’t the case saying the photo wasn’t posted to the school’s website or any of the school’s social media account.
“They were running around trying to spell raccoon, but they didn’t have the R and the A,” Pastor Raymond Horry who has two children enrolled in the district. “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?”
Horry has two sons enrolled in the O’Fallon, Missouri, private school. Other parents are also shocked at how a slur was used by educators.
“He absolutely told me, ‘Mom, I’m tired of it, do what you need to do because this is not fair and I’m tired of feeling like this,’” said one parent quoting her conversation with her son. John Smith, a graduate of Christian High School and a current basketball coach at the school stood with the educators saying this was not who they are.
“This isn’t our school this was a mistake,” Smith said. “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.”
In a statement, the district said they are investigating the incident.
“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.”
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