White Beaufort Co. principal apologizes for using N-word at Black History Month assembly
For the second time in one week, a white Beaufort County School District principal has come under fire for making racially offensive comments to students.
At a school-wide assembly Thursday celebrating Black History Month at May River High School in Bluffton, principal Todd Bornscheuer told students that historically notable African-Americans such as legendary baseball player Jackie Robinson would be “rolling around in their graves” if they heard kids today greeting each other as “my (N-word).”
On Friday afternoon, Bornscheuer said his intention had been to address complaints he’s received from parents and students recently about hearing the racially offensive word being thrown around in the hallways of the school.
In a voicemail distributed to parents Thursday evening, Bornscheuer said in conveying his message, he “made the serious mistake” of using the term, and that “as an educator of the past 24 years, the last thing I want to do is hurt students or families.”
Soon after he said the word, an image of Bornscheuer’s face with the message “No N-Word” written under it began circulating among students.
On Friday morning, Bornscheuer held meetings with each grade level to apologize to them face-to-face.
“It hurts that I have offended students in our community,” he said later in a phone call with The Island Packet and The Beaufort Gazette. “I wanted them to know I will not hide. I will be available and approachable.”
During one of the meetings, students applauded the apology and Bornscheuer cut them off saying, “I don’t want applause for this,” according to Foster.
On Thursday evening, Bornscheuer announced that parents could come speak to him at one of two meetings Friday. Foster said one parent came to the morning meeting and about four families attended the evening meeting.
School district spokesperson Jim Foster said one parent came to the morning meeting and that Bornscheuer also used part of the time to meet one-on-one with a black student who wanted to talk about the incident more.
The district’s human resources director is expected to look into the incident, Foster said.
Lady’s Island Middle School incident
The incident comes just one week after Lady’s Island Middle School principal Gregory Hall was called on to apologize for Jan. 30 presentations he made to students in which he appeared to target black and Hispanic students for low test averages, behavioral problems and chronic absenteeism, according to previous reporting by The Island Packet and The Beaufort Gazette.
In what Hall said was an effort to “challenge” and “motivate” students, the presentations were a review of state testing scores and disciplinary data, highlighting results by race and noting that black and Hispanic students were below average.
Hall apologized to students and parents in several meetings the next day.
Bluffton town council member Bridgette Frazier, who is a teacher at Hilton Head Island Middle School and has been a vocal advocate for teachers and students in the state, posted about the incident Thursday evening on Facebook.
“Between the incident at Lady’s Island Middle and what happened at May River High School it’s apparent that administrators and staff of our district would benefit from a mandatory culturally responsive training,” wrote Frazier, who is black.
She called Bornscheuer’s comment “irresponsible” and “disappointing.”
Consequences
The Beaufort County School District serves just over 22,000 students, about 27 percent of whom are black and 27 percent are Hispanic or Latino, according to 2017-18 demographic data provided by the district.
Black students represent 50 percent of the student population at Lady’s Island Middle School and Hispanic or Latino students represent 10 percent. At May River High School, black students make up about 12 percent of the around 1,200 students who attend the school and Hispanic or Latino students make up 24 percent.
It is not clear whether the district has ever required cultural competency training of staff, but school superintendent Frank Rodriguez, the district’s first Hispanic superintendent who started in July 2019, said Friday that the district will be offering this training to administrators, staff and teachers “very soon.”
While the incidents highlight a need for the training so that situations like this won’t happen again, Rodriguez said it is also a critical first step in the district’s efforts toward closing the achievement gaps between white students and students of color.
In a conference call with principals Friday morning, Rodriguez said he stressed the importance of being able to reach students.
“When you’re trying to build trust with people,” he said, “you can’t use words that are offensive. What we say matters.”
When he learned of the most recent racially insensitive incident involving an administrator, Rodriguez said his first thought was for the students who heard the remark.
“I immediately started to think about how they felt, how they heard it and received it,” he said.
“We can’t accept it and we have to do better.”
Foster was unable to say Friday what, if any, disciplinary actions might be taken with Bornscheuer or what, if any, disciplinary action had been taken with Hall.
“But there are consequences for bad decisions,” he said.
This story was originally published February 7, 2020 at 10:06 AM.
