Parents, Stephen Decatur staff angered over “race war” allegations

Two fights, recorded on cell phones last week, show Stephen Decatur students violently fighting. At some point that week, a racist, hateful Instagram post appeared on the Internet.

The issues have put the high school under intense scrutiny and have caused an emotional few days for the school community, but the emotion overriding all others right now, is anger.

“I’m devastated,” says Stephanie Lisi, a mother of one of the students involved in the fights.

However, what she finds disgusting, is that the videos, coupled with the Instagram post, were used together to insinuate that there “race wars” inside the school.

“There are no race issues, my child and the other boy had a difference of opinion and they had a one-on-one fight, and the other young man is being made to look like an animal,” says Lisi. “My son’s face shouldn’t be plastered on the front page of a local paper.”

Lisi is referring to the Daily Times, who also released 9-1-1 audio with police after the fight involving her son, giving out her information, which identified him.

“This is deplorable, there’s no anonymity, there’s no protection for either one of these children.”

Executive Editor, Mike Killian, says the Instagram post sparked their coverage of the issues at the school, and it was their job to report on it.

“We understand the sensitivity. This is a hard story to cover.  None of these things we want to be happening in the community,” said Killian in a phone conversation with 47 ABC.

As far as the 9-1-1 audio, he admits, the identifying information slipped through, and they later removed it.

“That’s on us and we’re sorry it happened.”

School officials say they were also outraged about the coverage.

“I’ve been in communications for 30 years and I on a personal level find this despicable, on a professional level, I’m deeply troubled by it,” says Barbara Witherow, coordinator of public relations for Worcester County Public Schools.

Witherow says one fight happened during dismissal on Wednesday, and another fight happened after a half day at the Berlin McDonald’s on Thursday. At some point, before, after, or in-between, the Instagram post surfaced. After the three events, Witherow says some other racial posts appeared on social media.

“The school identified the students, they interviewed the students, they communicated with the parents, and they applied consequences,” she says. “We’re telling kids that behavior is not appropriate, the right behavior is to get help, get the right people involved.”

The events have led to a larger police presence at the time of dismissal, an individual meeting between the high school’s principal and each grade, and a letter home to parents.

School staff say the reason for all of that is not to solve race wars, but to send a message about proper social media us, how to handle disputes, and as a bystander, to not fuel the fire with a cell phone.

Principal of Stephen Decatur High School, Thomas Zimmer, says so far, that message has been well-received by students, many of which came to him with concerns after seeing the coverage of their school.

“They feel that their reputation is being soiled, they feel that the community is now looking at all of them in a different light, they want to know what they can do,” says Zimmer. “I think it’s bringing us more together than it is separating us.”

Be sure to tune in to 47 ABC at 6 tomorrow where we will bring you more on what students are saying in response.