Natick High Sports Team Suspended After Racist Group Chat Uncovered

NATICK, MA — Natick Public Schools officials have suspended a winter sports team from competition after a group chat was uncovered that featured racist, anti-semitic and ableist content, according to a letter from Superintendent Anna Nolin.

According to the letter, NHS administration initially started looking into a video that recorded a racist act against a Black student when they found the chat.

"Through that investigation, an anti-Semitic, anti-Ableism group sports team chat associated with one or more of our winter teams was also discovered," the letter read.

It continued:

"The team who originated the hateful chat group has been shut down from season play and investigations occurred all day today to determine the scope of the hateful behavior. This team and others may be involved in this type of discriminatory and racist behavior. Any and all students involved in such behavior, even as bystanders, will be subject to possible investigation, discipline, and solutions to address this behavior."

Now, the team is barred from competing, and the school has called on the Natick Police Department to open an investigation.

Natick officials haven't returned a request for comment as of 10:15 a.m. on Tuesday, and it isn't confirmed which team and competition level is banned from competing.

Officials did say that members of the suspended team will undergo courses and training from the Northeastern University Center for Sport and Society, focusing on toxic speech. They will also participate in Anti-Defamation League programming regarding bias and hate in sports.

It appears that the school is also investigating an incident regarding "violent speech against females in our system," according to the letter. However, it doesn't appear that the two investigations are related.