Principal at California school apologizes after ‘offensive’ photos appear on social media
The principal at Central Catholic High School promises to involve its students in sensitivity training after denigrating, “inappropriate” photos were posted on one of its social media pages.
Before the school took down the post, screenshots of three photos were shared with The Bee, showing five students posing in what the principal calls Halloween costumes. The photos show one student wearing a police costume T-shirt and four others in serapes, the sleeveless, colorful garments considered an iconic symbol of Mexican culture.
In one photo, a student wearing a serape leans forward on the back of a car, with his hands behind his back. The “cop” poses with his hand on his classmate’s back, pretending to arrest him. It appears the photo was taken on campus, given the school emblem visible behind the back of a student’s head.
CCHS Principal Bruce Sawyer said he learned about the incident last week and offered his “deepest apologies” in an email to The Bee. He added that the “offensive” behaviors students engaged in are counter to the school’s mission of being welcoming and respectful.
“I am personally distressed not only by the costumes, but am disappointed that neither I nor our staff took appropriate action when it was happening,” Sawyer said. “And of course, we must address the fact that these photos were posted to a school account.”
Sawyer vowed to implement new social media guidelines to ensure that all posts are congruent with school values, but he didn’t include specific details. He also did not answer questions regarding Central Catholic’s policies on Halloween costumes and added that he couldn’t comment on personnel matters, including whether those involved were subject to disciplinary action.
“I can tell you that I take this matter very seriously and intend to remind everyone involved of the responsibilities we have to live up to,” he said.
As of Friday, the school had yet to release a public acknowledgment of the incident. Sawyer said Central Catholic will conduct an audit on all its social media accounts to understand how the situation occurred so it doesn’t happen again.
Parent frustrated, grad not surprised
When Simona Ríos learned about the situation, she talked it over with her two daughters, both CCHS graduates. She said she learned from them that racial issues long have been a problem at the school.
In a 2016 video posted on Snapchat, a white student from CCHS is seen playing with a hangman’s noose around his neck, saying “You must die (expletive).” Laughter follows as he says the name of another CCHS student, who is Black, and the video cuts to a hand gun firing.
“It’s very frustrating because as a parent, they don’t really tell you that when going to school,” she said.
Like a lot of kids, Ríos said, hers would often tell her how much they hated school, but she didn’t think much of it. She now feels her kids may have been reluctant to share because of the culture that’s been created at the school.
“I really think the school needs cultural training, staff and the students, on a yearly basis … because this is not OK,” Ríos said.
Her daughter Mariel Rios, a 2009 CCHS graduate, said the incident isn’t surprising. She said racism is rampant at the school.
Before attending Central Catholic, Mariel said, she went to public schools and didn’t experience racism like she did at the private school, where it would happen “just casually … as if it’s like nothing.”
She recalls from her freshman year standing with two other Mexican-American girls on campus when a white student shouted at them, “Bean dip!”
“We didn’t even know what to say,” she said.
Student felt powerless
Throughout her four years at the school, she experienced racism from students, even while in front of faculty, who she said never bothered to interject. By her senior year, she felt like she couldn’t change things and had no authority figure to turn to at the school.
She said she didn’t tell her mom about it because as a devout Catholic family, she knew her mom really wanted her to go to that school. So she kept her concerns to herself.
Principal Sawyer said workshops and discussions will immediately be held so that students have a better understanding of sensitivity and kindness expectations. But Mariel said there was talk of integrating sensitivity workshops at the school back when she was a student, yet nothing ever came to fruition.
Though the training at CCHS would be a step in the right direction, she said, other schools need to follow suit. She said she feels racism is a problem throughout the Catholic school system in Stanislaus County because the students who end up at CCHS come from those schools already comfortable with using racist and discriminatory language.
“It’s a much greater problem,” she said. “It’s not just Central.”
This story was originally published November 8, 2021 at 8:50 AM with the headline "Principal at California school apologizes after ‘offensive’ photos appear on social media."
