Burlington Schools Condemn Online Racism By Students

BURLINGTON, MA — Burlington Public Schools officials condemned online bigotry by Burlington students in a letter to the school community Friday.

In their letter, Superintendent Eric Conti and Assistant Superintendent Patrick Larkin did not specify what students said, but said students "have engaged in racist behaviors on their personal social media accounts over the past few weeks."

That has included "derogatory terms, being insensitive to gender differences and mocking other cultures."

Conti and Larkin note they have no control over out-of-school actions on personal social media, but wrote, "We feel it is our responsibility as a school district to ensure we create a welcoming community for ALL students.

"We condemn racist, discriminatory, and harassing behaviors of all forms that impede our efforts to accomplish this goal. These types of social media posts are upsetting and do not reflect the values and beliefs of our school community."

The two district leaders encouraged parents to keep track of their children's online behavior and said they are reaching out to individual parents about their children's racist actions.

Christopher Huffaker can be reached at 412-265-8353 or chris.huffaker@patch.com.