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Warrensburg Schools superintendent apologizes after students diss basketball team
A video showing students at Warrensburg High School turning their backs to Center High School basketball team has gone viral.
WARRENSBURG, Mo. - The superintendent of Warrensburg Schools is offering an apology for the actions of some students that were caught on camera.
The Warrensburg High School men’s basketball team was getting ready to tip off against visiting Center High School Monday night, when some students turned their backs on the players as Center’s starting roster was announced. One of the students in the video held up a “TRUMP” campaign sign.
“Where it went over the line is when they held up the [Trump] sign,” said Warrensburg R6 School District Superintendent Dr. Scott Patrick. “There’s no reason for that to occur at a basketball game so they just took it too far and it was insensitive and not appropriate.”
Video of the incident spread quickly across Facebook, sparking a heated debate on whether the student’s actions crossed from unsportsmanlike to racism.
The woman recording the video believes it was indeed racism.
“I was like wow. You guys are playing an all-black basketball team and you’re all white and it’s just, you turned around, hold up a trump sign and I thought it was very racist,” said 20- year-old Center High graduate Antonia Nunn. “It was rude. I didn’t like it at all. It wasn’t ok.”
Some current Center High students weren't so sure the act was racially motivated.
“It just seems like an immature thing to do. It seems like they are trying to piss us off. I don't think they are really trying to say anything other than that. Just seems like, I don't know a way to aggravate us,” said one student.
Nunn says some Warrensburg students reached out to her on Facebook to offer apologies.
Dr. Patrick, the superintendent issued a statement Tuesday and says he called his Center School District counterparts to say sorry for the incident.
“I was disturbed by the video. It was obviously inappropriate conduct on the behalf of a small number of our students. So that upset me. From the very beginning, we regretted that it happened and I apologize on behalf of our students and our school for the incident,” said Dr. Patrick.
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Brian Abel can be reached at brian.abel@kshb.com.