Wheaton schools probe racial slurs complaint

As they stepped off the bus for a lacrosse match Friday at Wheaton Warrenville South High School, twin brothers Sharad and Rashad Crosby took plenty of razzing from the home crowd.

But thrown in the mix were slurs the Naperville North High School freshmen, the only black players on their team, never endured before: the N-word.

Two fans who appeared to be students hurled the racial epithets at the boys, the twins said. When they returned home, their mother says they were “distraught.”

“You don’t do that to kids,” said Rosalind Crosby of her 14-year-old sons. “It devastated them. They are honor students, very athletic, very active in the community.”

On Monday, Wheaton Warrenville Unit District 200 officials apologized to Crosby and said they were trying to identify the culprits. A spokesman said if it is determined that the offenders are students, the consequences could range from “a conversation to recommendation for expulsion.”

“It is not acceptable on campus, whoever is involved,” spokesman Bob Rammer said, adding that an initial probe determined the slurs did not come from players on South ‘s club team.

District 200 Superintendent Brian Harris emailed an apology to Crosby and South’s athletic director, Mike Healy, called to apologize.

Additionally, Rammer said, the school brought the coaches and players together to try to identify the offending fans.

“We will pursue this vigorously, and we hope we can identify these individuals, whether they’re students or spectators,” he said.

Crosby said the school should use the incident to stress the code of conduct for sporting events because the crowd at the game was particularly rowdy.

She said her sons heard the slurs throughout the match. When she heard about them, she sent an email to the principals of both schools.

“I hope they come together and talk to the parents and kids and let them know this cannot be tolerated,” she said. “I can’t believe this is still happening.”

Naperville Unit District 203 Director of Communications Susan Rice said the epithets do not indicate the usual sportsmanship displayed by District 200 schools.

“We regret that any students are subjected to such language and the ignorance it reflects,” she said. “But by no means do we feel this reflects the attitude of District 200 coaches, players or administration.”

She said District 203 also will investigate the incident, and tell athletes who hear such language not to be shy about informing their coaches.

“We want to empower the students to speak up and speak loudly to the coach and inform the coach of what they are hearing,” she said. “The coach did observe a lot of loud and obnoxious behavior but (he didn’t) hear any racial comments.”

Rice said a bigger problem comes from adults who may have been seated near the offenders.

“We have a responsibility to teach that intolerance will never be tolerated,” she said. “We need to take this as an opportunity to teach and learn and grow from it. If we don’t make something positive come out of incidents like this, that’s when we miss the mark of what we are supposed to be doing as educators.”

The racial slurs come on the heels of a similar case late last month at St. Charles East High School. During a soccer match at the school, several fans started making racially tinged remarks about players from Larkin High School in Elgin, which is predominately Hispanic.

The taunts led to a suspension of the match midway through the game and the St. Charles school forfeited because of it.