St. Petersburg Catholic High School just wrapped its independent investigation into claims of racism and racist, threatening graffiti we first told you about earlier this year.
PREVIOUS COVERAGE
- APRIL 9: DOJ & FBI host listening session for St. Pete Catholic students after racial graffiti discovered
- MARCH 24: DOJ to investigate racial threat claims at St. Pete Catholic High School
- MARCH 24: Racist complaints continue at school, parents want action
- BELOW: Read the full report and school's letter to parents
The report says the person responsible for that threat has still not been identified, but details recommended actions that the school should take going forward.
There were four issues identified for the investigator to look into, including claims that the school allowed a culture of racism. According to the report, they found that was not true.
The incident that sparked the investigation was the racist threat written on a bathroom stall at the school that read “kill all n-words.”
The report (which you can read its entirety below) says that none of the students interviewed could identify the person responsible “beyond a reasonable doubt.”
The findings also show the school acted quickly internally but should have involved police immediately. It was a parent who reported the incident to the police. The recommendation from the investigator is for the school to improve its procedures for handling potentially threatening communications.
The claim of the dean of students, who is white, called a group of black students “hoodlums” was also investigated and the report points out some students said they thought he was joking and had used the term before on a variety of occasions.
But since one student was offended, the dean is recommended to be disciplined. But what that discipline would be isn’t included in the report.
The investigator also looked into what they call unsubstantiated allegations of issues of racism and they say the issues were either properly disciplined or not substantiated.
Updating and improving its security system, and creating an advisory committee for racial harmony comprised of interested students, faculty, and others, was recommended by the investigator.
The school already had a number of changes implemented since the racist threats first came to light.
Among them is a class offered in multi-cultural studies and daily checks in the bathroom areas. The school says they are now focusing on the path forward. In a separate letter to parents, they outlined that plan for this school year and the next, and the work to get there continues.
The report is detailed and a lot of parents Spectrum Bay News 9 spoke with today were at work and hadn’t had a chance to read it yet, so we will check in with them once they have. As for the school, it declined an on camera interview and said the report and letter to parents speak for themselves.