WASHINGTON — Middle school students on a Montgomery County school bus loudly engaged in a chant that used a racial slur, and the video that captured that moment was widely shared on social media.
Now the principal of Robert Frost Middle School in Rockville, Maryland, has sent a letter home to parents saying the episode will be a “teachable moment” for the school community.
According to the letter from Joey Jones, the school’s principal, the incident took place Tuesday afternoon and an unknown number of students broke into a chant that, as Jones put it, “included the N-word.” In the video, students can be heard chanting, “One, two, three, four, how many n- are in my store?”
Jones wrote in the letter home that the driver had stopped the bus and addressed the students who took part in the chant. He also wrote that a “diverse group of students including students who are African-American, Latino and Asian were involved in saying the chant.”
NBC Washington reported that the students were using a chant that has appeared on Vine, but the originator, who is a black teenager, said the chant to highlight racial profiling in stores.
The principal called the behavior “offensive and inappropriate,” and stated that disciplinary action in accordance with the MCPS Student Code of Conduct will be taken.
Jones says that the school will follow up with opportunities for students, parents and the community to discuss issues surrounding race. He added, that as an African-American educator, “the incident is personally very disturbing.”
