EL DORADO HILLS, Calif. — High school officials in El Dorado Hills said Tuesday that a student who heckled Black and Latina soccer players during a high school championship game with racist taunts has been identified and is being held accountable.
The incident happened while the Oak Ridge High School girls soccer team played against the Clovis' Buchanan High School girls soccer team in the NorCal Championship game.
"Sadly, during the shootout part of the game, one individual from the Oak Ridge cheering section made a monkey sound while an African American student from Buchanan took a shot," the El Dorado Union High School District said in a statement on Monday.
In a statement posted to Facebook, Jasara Gillette, head coach for Buchanan Girls Soccer, said a Hispanic player was also barked at by someone.
In a Tuesday update, the school district called the act a "completely unprovoked and unacceptable outburst."
"This individual’s conduct does not represent the values of our school, district, or community. This explicitly racist action has taken the focus away from two outstanding teams of young women athletes," the district said in a statement to ABC10.
The district says the Oak Ridge High School Administration has been talking with both Buchanan High School and the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) to make formal apologies regarding the incident.
"This Incident disgusts our learning community and embarrasses our entire school," Oak Ridge High School's Principal Aaron Palm said in an emailed statement to ABC10. "There is no room for this type of individual behavior anywhere in society."
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According to the district, the conversation about the incident will take place in the classrooms as well, giving students an opportunity to reflect on what happened.
"We fully intend that lessons to be learned as this type of behavior should never go unconfronted or ever be repeated," the district said.
The CIF told ABC30 that it "finds it unacceptable when those attending a game take away from all the hard work the student-athletes have put forth to participate in a championship event. The CIF prohibits discrimination or any acts that are disrespectful or demeaning toward a member school, student-athlete, or school community."
For the full statement from El Dorado Union High School District, view below:
On Saturday, March 5, the Girls Varsity Soccer teams from Oak Ridge High School and Buchanan High School from Clovis, met for the NorCal Championship game. A completely unprovoked and unacceptable outburst was made by one individual in the Oak Ridge side of the stands as the game went from over time to penalty kicks. This individual’s conduct does not represent the values of our school, district, or community. This explicitly racist action has taken the focus away from two outstanding teams of young women athletes.
The Oak Ridge High School Administration, supported by the District Office, is diligently investigating the incident by using video and student interviews to identify the individual. The school Administration will take warranted actions to ensure this type of behavior is labeled as hate speech which can never be explained away or tolerated. The school will take the full disciplinary action as allowable by Education Code.
The Oak Ridge High School Administration is in communication with Buchanan High School as well as CIF regarding the incident and formal apologies are being made.
Further discussions of the incident will take place in each Oak Ridge classroom this week. In addition, school wide opportunities to reflect on what took place are now scheduled for the entire student body. We fully intend that lessons to be learned as this type of behavior should never go unconfronted or ever be repeated. We will continue our Respect for All messaging and lessons and take steps to do all we can to further prevent incidents like this from happening.
We must never forget that we are all molding young minds and hearts, and this is why our educational institutions exist. Our desire is that this never happens again, and we will take the thoughtful steps necessary to ensure it’s not repeated.
Oak Ridge High School Principal, Aaron Palm, stated “This incident disgusts our learning community and embarrasses our entire school. There is no room for this type of individual behavior anywhere in society.”
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