BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. – A photo showing a Melbourne High School student with a racial slur on their T-shirt circulated on social media early Wednesday afternoon, drawing concerns from community members and the district alike, News 6 partner Florida Today reported.
The photo, posted to Facebook by another student’s father Wednesday at about 10 a.m., showed a student wearing a T-shirt with an obscenity and a racial slur against black people scrawled on the back. Other students and a teacher can be seen in the photo.
School board chair Matt Susin told Florida Today that Chad Kirk, principal at Melbourne High School, said three children were involved in the incident. He indicated that the three students were being reprimanded.
“This is unacceptable,” Susin said.
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Soon after, an email was sent to the Melbourne High School community from Kirk, explaining that the student wearing the shirt had been walking to class with three students and let them write on his shirt. The student wearing the shirt did not know what was being written until another classmate alerted him to the racial slur, at which point he immediately went to the front office and asked to change shirts, Kirk said.
“We quickly investigated this student’s story and identified the students who wrote the racial slur on the back of the T-shirt,” Kirk said, adding that the student in the shirt was not at fault. “We have zero tolerance for this behavior and have disciplined the students in accordance with the Brevard Public Schools Discipline Plans. We are sending a clear message that this behavior is unacceptable.”
The three students were suspended in accordance with the student code of conduct, said Russell Bruhn, spokesperson for the district. Suspensions for incidents like this can last for up to 10 days, he said.
“These types of behaviors will never be tolerated, will never be allowed to go unchecked and unpunished,” he said “When people act this way, they will face severe punishment. It’s the antithesis of what we do as an educational institution.”
He added that the student wearing the shirt shouldn’t be blamed for the incident.
“The student... was not a willing participant in that type of language,” he said. “That student, in a lot of ways, is a victim.”
Susin mirrored the statement, explaining that the student was completely unaware of what the message was.
“I was deplored. I looked at it, and it’s despicable,” Susin said. “This is somebody physically taking and writing something on the back of someone else that puts that person in danger and then sends a message to the rest of that community that this is what we do. That is a whole other area to take a look at.”
Kirk asked the Mel High community to not share the Facebook post.
“What happened today are the actions of a few individual students and they do not represent the views of our administration, faculty, staff or student body,” he said.
The post drew concern from North Brevard NAACP and other community members, with more than 351 shares on the post and 70 comments by 2:15 p.m. on Wednesday.
William Gary with the North Brevard NAACP branch said that students are often not aware of the seriousness of their actions.
“It starts at a higher level, and it filters down to students. They emulate what they hear and what they see,” Gary said. “We’ve got to work harder because I think there are many people who are working at this now, but we just have to work harder to get parents on, really engaged in helping manage these students.”
Brevard Public Schools’ dress code, updated in July, states that clothing cannot “state, imply or depict hate speech or imagery targeting groups based on race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, religious affiliation or any other characteristics protected by federal or state law.”
Harassment or bullying on the basis of race is also prohibited in BPS’ student code of conduct.
Melbourne High School Principal Chad Kirk provided the following statement in response to the incident.
Dear Bulldog Families,
Melbourne High places student safety as our number one responsibility. Today, we experienced an incident that jeopardized the safety of our student body. I am sending this message to you in effort to be transparent about what occurred and explain how we are addressing it.
This morning we were informed that there was a male student who was wearing a t-shirt in class with a racial slur written on it. We became aware of the shirt when the student who was wearing it came into our front office and reported it. He asked us if he could change his shirt and we immediately facilitated his request.
Subsequent questioning of the student revealed that he had allowed three other students to write on the back of his shirt as they walked together from first to second period. The student who was wearing the shirt did not know what was being written on it. When he arrived at his second period class one of his classmates alerted him to the racial slur that was written on the back of the shirt. The student who was wearing the t-shirt left class immediately and came to the front office to report what had happened.
We quickly investigated this student's story and identified the students who wrote the racial slur on the back of the t-shirt. We have zero tolerance for this behavior and have disciplined the students in accordance with the Brevard Public Schools Discipline Plan. We are sending a clear message that this behavior is unacceptable.
Finally, we understand that there is a social media post of the t-shirt. We ask you to help us resolve this issue by not forwarding or sharing it with other individuals. What happened today are the actions of a few individual students and they do not represent the views of our administration, faculty, staff, or student body. We thank you in advance for your assistance.
You are welcome to call me at 321-952-5880 if you have any questions.
Dr. Chad Kirk
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