Florida school district official dismisses video of white students using n-word as ‘joke amongst friends’

Although the district has not disciplined students in the video but has disciplined the student who circulated the video and two Black students, who confronted them in the video
Officials from Nassau County School District said that no discipline action will be taken against the two white students who used the n-word in a video. One of them was wearing a white hood.

News 4 Jax reported that Assistant Superintendent Mark Durham of Nassau County School District dismissed the video as a joke between friends, but it was not intended to be publicized.

(Credit to YouTube screenshot)

Durham stated in a statement that the video was not intended to be shared with anyone other than a small circle of friends. Durham also said it wasn't targeted at any student. Two students who made the video said they intended it to be a joke between friends, and that it was not meant for anyone other than their small group.

Durham stated that the actions of the students who were not officially enrolled at Yulee High School during the video recording did not meet the requirements for the school not to take disciplinary action.

Durham stated that while schools have the right to discipline students for off-campus or on-line behavior, this case didn't meet those criteria. Although the school and the district find this kind of joke abhorrent, they would still discipline the students if it was legal. However, this case is not permissible.

The district took action to punish the student who shared the video with multiple Black classmates via Snapchat as well as two recipients who confronted the students.

Durham stated that the student who sent the video was able to meet the criteria for punishing a student's online behavior. The district code of conduct gave the student discipline.

Numerous parents of students in Nassau County discussed the controversial decision Wednesday night. Many parents felt that the district failed to handle the situation in a fair and consistent manner.

Continue the story

A group of parents representing more than 20 students from Nassau County met Wednesday night to discuss the district's handling of the situation. They called it inconsistent and unfair, according to News 4 Jax.

It is common to believe that racism is limited only to physical violence and name calling. But it is so much more, Christina Guerrier, a parent, stated at Thursday night's school board meeting. We saw that school administrators were putting covert racism on the forefront of their response.

According to Matthew Ricks, there have been, according to my view, inconsistencies between the parents I spoke with and the response to our children. The communication was suboptimal to me. It is hard to understand why we have not worked together to resolve this. I don't know why it takes a group, literally me crying in the district offices, to get a reply.

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TheGrio reports that a Florida school district official dismissed a video showing white students making fun of each other's use of the n-word.