Columbus’ St. Anne-Pacelli parent speaks about recent video of student using racial slurs

EDITOR’S NOTE: This story has been corrected since its original publishing on Friday, March 10 to include a statement provided by a school spokeswoman on Thursday, March 9. Additionally, the report has been corrected to state the video was circulated among high school students at lunchtime and not middle school students.

COLUMBUS, Ga. (WTVM) - A parent is reacting to a video of a Pacelli high school student using racial and homophobic slurs.

In the video, a student repeatedly said two derogatory words back to back -- one being the ‘n-word’ and the other referring to a person’s sexual orientation in a very vulgar manner.

WTVM contacted the school on Thursday, March 9 for a response to the incident. A school spokeswoman provided a statement that evening and told WTVM disciplinary measures were being taken:

“Our school administrators were made aware today of a video of one of our students using racial slurs. St. Anne-Pacelli Catholic School has a zero tolerance policy for hate speech. This type of behavior does not align with our school’s core values of faith, honesty, loyalty and respect. The parents of the student who filmed/distributed the video and the student who said the racial slurs have been contacted and disciplinary measures have been taken.”

A school spokeswoman tells us the video was airdropped by a high school student to several other high school students during lunchtime.

Lacarshia Roper has a child who attends the private Catholic school and says the school isn’t doing enough to keep this type of behavior from continuing to happen.

“They need to have some sensitivity training when it comes to dealing with different types of people,” said the parent. “This is not showing Black students and other students that they matter. Because there were two different racial slurs made, and that’s really showing students that fall in those categories but by other names... they’re showing them they are nothing to them.”

WTVM was informed Friday afternoon by a school spokeswoman that the student in the video no longer attends the school.

Pacelli released a statement to parents addressing the incident.

Hateful and vulgar language is disturbing, disruptive, and dangerous, and it will not be tolerated at St. Anne-Pacelli Catholic School. In light of the recent video and text message found on Pacelli middle and high school students’ phones, this is a reminder that this type of behavior will have serious consequences.
Our students are representing the Viking family at all times - when they are on campus and during their off-campus activities. Hateful and vulgar speech does not align with our school’s core values of faith, honesty, loyalty and respect and will be cause for immediate disciplinary action.
As parents, you own and are responsible for your children’s phones and electronic devices. There are programs that will allow you to have live access to them. Your phone provider should be able to provide direction on what will work best for your student’s device type. The responsibility associated with allowing children to have electronic devices and what they do with them ultimately belongs to you.
Our students were addressed about this during morning announcements today. I pray that you will remind them that harmful speech is horrible no mater who it’s aimed at and who witnesses it, but it’s especially troubling when it affects children and teens. If you or your children find hateful speech by another student, you should immediately report it to school administrators. Students who share videos or texts which do not align with our school’s values will also be disciplined.
Thank you for being a partner in the education of our students.
Statement form St. Anne-Pacelli Catholic School

Copyright 2023 WTVM. All rights reserved.