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5-04-2022 10:47pm
Westwood Public Schools Notifies Parents of Racist Video Featuring Westwood High School Student
Darlene Cancell
Editor
On the early evening of Wednesday, May 4, 2022, Assistant Superintendent Allison Borchers sent an email notice to Westwood Public Schools families regarding a racist video circulating on social media which features a currently enrolled Westwood High School (WHS) student. The notice of the racist video took the form of a forwarded copy of a letter by WHS Principal Amy Davenport and Superintendent Emily Parks to high school families.
Principal Davenport and Superintendent Parks note in their letter that the racist video was originally posted on social media in 2020, and it began to recirculate among students in March 2022. The letter does not specifically describe what was contained in the video or what particular racial groups may have been targeted.
“The video, which has been removed from social media but is still being shared among students, is a deeply disturbing example of hate speech,” state the letter writers.
The principal and superintendent note that Westwood Police are investigating. Additionally, they note that a school leadership team and district administrators are investigating the video’s impact on the school community and possible disciplinary actions.
“Finally, we want to be very clear: this video is a serious transgression of community norms. It is entirely contrary to the values of our students, our school and the wider community,” the two officials state.
In another incident at the high school, Westwood Minute
learned that Westwood Police took a report on March 18, 2022 from a Westwood High School senior who had received harassing text messages that were over fifty in number. The police report did not indicate the specific content of the messages. At this time, Westwood Minute has no knowledge of whether those past harassing texts are related to the currently circulating racist video.
In the case of the harassing texts, the 18 year-old student received the messages on December 21, 2021 and March 22, 2022. No investigative leads were developed at the time. It appeared that the texts may have been sent using an application which enables spoofing. Spoofing happens when someone disguises a phone number, web site address, email address or sender name by substituting an incorrect number, name or address.
Police advised the student who received the harassing texts to change the student’s phone number and to be wary with whom the number is shared.
