The Region 10 Schools superintendent is investigating an incident involving "disrespectful" actions with "profane and racist overtones" by fans at Lewis Mills High School girls basketball game in Burlington Thursday night, according to an email sent to parents.
Lewis Mills hosted the game against Meriden's Platt High School.
Superintendent Howard Thiery said he was contacted by the Lewis Mills principal Thursday night about behavior by the Lewis Mills fans. He said the two investigated the incident through the night.
"At this point we certainly know enough to say that what happened last night should never happen. The actions of our fans were unacceptable," Thiery said in the email. "The language and actions of our fans toward the Platt players were often disrespectful with profane and racist overtones."
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Thiery said an incident like this should never happen at the school.
"Today I feel responsible and ashamed that this occurred in our school to a team of girls who were our guests. No one should ever be disrespected that way. I would love to say that this is not who we are as a school community, but I can't say that until actions like last night don’t occur," Thiery said.
The school will continue to investigate and take disciplinary action when needed, Thiery said.
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Here is the entire statement from the superintendent to parents:
Last night at 7:30 pm the Lewis Mills high school principal called me at home to let me know that there were concerning reports about our fan behavior at the girl's basketball game. He and I have spent all of our time since then sorting out and trying to understand what happened. At this point we certainly know enough to say that what happened last night should never happen. The actions of our fans were unacceptable. The language and actions of our fans toward the Platt players were often disrespectful with profane and racist overtones. Today I feel responsible and ashamed that this occurred in our school to a team of girls who were our guests. No one should ever be disrespected that way. I would love to say that this is not who we are as a school community, but I can't say that until actions like last night don’t occur.
I have been an athlete in one form or another my whole life. Athletic competition should bring out the best in us. The community of high school athletes in Connecticut, no matter how fierce the competition, should be a community built on respect. The girls’ basketball team from Platt weren’t shown that respect last night. This can’t happen. Everyone who comes to our school as a visitor or a member of our community must feel welcome, safe, and respected. We are still looking into everything that happened and what steps are needed next. These steps will include discipline consequences where we can determine individual actions as well as looking hard at our management of games and events to proactively prevent this type of behavior. We must do everything we can to make sure this never happens again.
