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Some students from Guyer High School in Denton directed racist, homophobic and misogynistic comments toward students from an opposing school at a football game last Thursday, witnesses said.
The alleged comments were made during a game against Mansfield’s Lake Ridge High School.
“We were unable to corroborate instances of racial slurs used,” Denton school officials said in a statement, “however, the full investigation is not complete as we are reviewing further allegations of hateful speech directed at one or more members of the visiting school.”
The comments were reportedly directed at Lake Ridge’s football team, band, drill team, color guard and cheerleading squad, according to parents whose children were at the game.
Jennifer Chen was at the game to support her daughter, a student in Lake Ridge’s band. She said that throughout the game, she heard “vulgar, foul language” coming from Guyer’s student section.
“You could hear it all the way across the field,” Chen said, adding that her daughter was “very upset, extremely angry and hurt” by the words that were used.
“There were a lot of vulgar sexual comments made toward our drill team and toward some of our color guard members and band,” she said. “There were racial slurs shouted at some of them … they called one of our color guard males a homophobic slur.”
Some comments heard at the game included phrases such as “lynch the hoes” and “kill yourselves,” according to video recordings from that night.
“Even if you feel like those comments aren’t necessarily directed at you, those are your friends. That’s your family,” Chen said. “When you feel like your family is being attacked and harassed, that’s very hurtful.”
Rhonda Joyner, another parent of a student in Lake Ridge’s band, said her daughter came home from the game feeling “deflated.”
“My daughter is mixed-race,” Joyner said. “You hear about things like this happening, but this was the first time she had experienced that for herself. Even though it wasn’t said directly to her necessarily, she could hear things being yelled out … she saw some of her fellow classmates upset and crying.”
Guyer’s principal, Shaun Perry, sent a letter to Lake Ridge on Friday apologizing for any issues.
“I would like to extend my sincere apologies for any and all inappropriate behavior towards anyone associated with Lake Ridge High School,” Perry wrote. “The behavior that has been reported does not reflect the standards of behavior we seek to instill in or have exhibited by our student body.”
He noted in another letter to Guyer students and parents that some of the information spreading on social media was “deemed inaccurate.” But he added that the incident “shed a negative light” on Guyer’s community.
“Attendance at extracurricular events and activities is a privilege,” Perry wrote. “At all times, at events on and off campus, when we are representing our school, we must do so in a manner that represents the values that our school has been built on, including respect, integrity, and compassion.”
Perry added that in the future, students who behave inappropriately will be disciplined according to the school’s code of conduct and will be removed from event venues.
But some Lake Ridge parents said they would still like to see Guyer High School administrators take more substantial action in response to the incident.
“It’s not so much saying you’re sorry anymore,” Chen said. “What are you going to do to fix the problem? I just don’t want any other kids to experience this, and nobody deserves to be spoken to the way our students were spoken to — nobody.”