Lawrence Schools Say They're Investigating Racial Slur Incident

LAWRENCEVILLE, NJ – Lawrence Public Schools is investigating a race-slur incident that happened at Lawrence Middle School, the district said Thursday.

School staff shut down Tuesday's virtual assembly after noticing an anonymous person had changed their username to a racial slur.

Principal Mindy Milavsky was addressing an all-school assembly at the time.

“We are aggressively investigating this racist incident. We have reached out to YouTube, the Lawrence Police Department and our Technology Department to help us,” superintendent Ross Kasun said in a statement.

The district said that the middle school often live streamed via the LMS Nation Youtube channel and had never faced problems before.

“We apologize for the incident that happened on September 8th and for the deep pain it has triggered in our community. It is not acceptable,” said Kasun.

Milavsky also addressed the issue with LMS students in video message on Thursday. Students were asked to do a reflective writing piece and discuss inclusiveness during their advisory class.

The district said it was focusing on “equity” within the schools this year and is devoting time and money for professional development of the staff and for curriculum changes.

Kasun said the district is also planning to schedule a community conversation in partnership with community leaders, members and organizations.

“We need to trust each other and learn from each other and believe that our intentions are good. The current climate, including hateful posts on social media, are not helpful and are not Lawrence; this is not who we want to be,” he told the school community.

Investigation is currently ongoing, the district told Patch.

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