District under fire for racist youth league jerseys, teacher's lynching comment

UPDATED 2 p.m.:

The leader of Mason Schools cites an “uptick” of racist remarks in schools and the community and warns they will not be tolerate

Superintendent Gail Kist-Kline sent an email message Thursday to school parents in Warren County’s largest school system in the aftermath of a district teacher using an insensitive and historically deadly racial reference with an African-American student.

“We have seen an uptick in the number of racially and culturally insensitive comments in our schools and community,” wrote Kist-Kline.
And days later, Mason Schools officials are apologizing for a white teacher’s “lynch” remark to an African-America middle school student and promising changes.

“We’re going to work hard on this,” said Kings spokeswoman Dawn Gould, referring to the multiple efforts by district officials in the 4,300-student district to address concerns of the community regarding an incident involving racist youth-league jerseys.

On Friday, Kings officials were planning to address students from Kings High School about the racist jerseys as part of regularly scheduled group meetings.

Both districts are largely within the Deerfield Township borders and are among the most affluent communities in Greater Cincinnati’s northern suburbs.

Kings’ enrollment is 2.3 percent African-American, while black students comprise 4 percent of Mason’s 10,400 students.

Both districts are regularly cited by national publications as being among the academically highest-quality performers among Ohio’s 608 public school systems.

“Kings is a high-performing district with great students. Like many other schools around the country, this recent issue is an area we need to work on,” Gould said.

Mason Schools officials said the December classroom incident at Mason Middle School was a clear violation of proper behavior by one of their teachers. The district has acknowledged that a teacher made a mistake after a black student reported that he was told he might be lynched if he didn’t get back to work, according to the Associated Press.

http://www.ajc.com/news/national/district-under-fire-for-racist-youth-league-jerseys-teacher-lynching-comment/R1yuotCy3fREahjjrkBhKJ/