Meeting to Address Racial Tension at Lakeside High School

DECATUR, GA -- The parent’s council of Lakeside High School will meet Friday amid talk of racial tensions some say have long existed at the school.

Recently, principal Jason Clyne was removed from the school after he allegedly made racial remarks in a meeting with staff members. And several social-media posts by students have surfaced, further inflaming the situation.

As the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports, the social-media troubles started with a tweet by a Lakeside student that recently resurfaced after being originally posted in the fall.

That post features an image of the Confederate battle flag, redone in Lakeside’s purple-and-gold colors and with the school’s mascot, a Viking, superimposed on it. Its text read, “Soon Lakeside, soon.”

That student’s Twitter account appeared to have been suspended Friday morning.

On Wednesday, word spread at the school that Clyne was being investigated for allegedly using racial slurs during a meeting with campus security guards and janitors.

Students responded on social media. Some black students said it was about time racial issues at the school were examined. But some white students doubled down with more racial remarks.

“There’s no proof (to what Clyne) did, but the n------ are freaking out,” one student wrote on Twitter, according to the AJC.

“N------ doing what n------ do best,” the other responded.

Both of those students later apologized.

The school’s parent council meeting is set for 4 p.m. Friday.