Loudoun County, Virginia, public schools alerted parents on Friday that some middle schoolers had engaged in 鈥渉ateful and derogatory鈥� comments in a school system-sponsored online chat room.
Superintendent Scott Ziegler said in a message to parents that a small number of students made the comments in a Google chat room that included 鈥渁 large number of middle school students.鈥�
He said the messages were read by students from 鈥渕ultiple schools across the division,鈥� and were discovered by monitoring software and by reports from students.
Ziegler said administrators are investigating. In the meantime, the chat room feature for middle school students will be deactivated.
鈥淟oudoun County Public Schools rejects and condemns the use of hate speech and racial slurs of any kind,鈥� Ziegler said. 鈥淎s a community of learners committed to providing a welcoming, safe, affirming, and academically rigorous environment for all students, we collectively apologize for not living up to our stated ideals and values.鈥�
He also said that, given that students used 鈥渃ellphones, school-issued Chromebooks and messaging platforms鈥� to send the messages, parents should talk with their kids about 鈥渄igital citizenship.鈥�
