Two Dist. 200 students admit to taunting lacrosse players
Wheaton Warrenville Unit District 200 officials say they have identified two students who taunted two black lacrosse players from Naperville North High School before and during a May 20 match at Seven Gables Park.
The two North students, freshmen twin brothers Sharad and Rashad Crosby, told their mother the taunts were especially hurtful because they included the N-word.
District 200 spokesman Bob Rammer said Wheaton Warrenville South officials took the investigation seriously and questioned members of the school’s lacrosse team as well as students they knew attended the match.
During the investigation, two sophomores came clean.
“The student who admitted to using the offending word is an African-American. The other student, a white male, admitted to taunting and being less than courteous to the opposing team,” Rammer said Tuesday afternoon. “Both will receive some form of discipline action and will also be writing letters of apology two both students and (Kevin Pobst) the principal of Naperville North.”
Rosalind Crosby, mother of the 14-year-old twins, said her sons were devastated after being taunted throughout the game. She said she was pleased the offending students admitted to their actions but concerned they felt “so free to talk like that” in public.
“This wasn’t a couple of guys playing ball in the park. This was happening in front of parents, coaches and other players,” she said. “I’m still disappointed that no one else stood up and put an end to the language being used.”
On Monday, District 200 officials apologized to Crosby and said they were trying to identify the culprits. At that time, Rammer said consequences for the offending students could range from “a conversation to recommendation for expulsion.”
On Tuesday, however, he declined to say what, if any, discipline the students will receive beyond writing the letters.
District 200 Superintendent Brian Harris emailed an apology to Crosby and South’s athletic director, Mike Healy, called to apologize.
Crosby said Tuesday she was pleased the school took the issue seriously but was disappointed the student who used the racial slur is black.
“It doesn’t matter to me what your race or ethnicity is. The word is unacceptable, regardless of whose mouth it comes from. And in this case it came from your student,” Crosby said. “This generation has the misguided notion that ending the word in a ‘ga’ is OK and friendly and ending it in ‘er’ is offensive. That’s ridiculous. It’s the same hurtful and negative word.”
She doesn’t believe the word was being used to greet her sons in the “friendly” way.
“They were bullies,” she said. “They weren’t telling my sons ‘hey homies, thanks for coming to play against our team.’”
Crosby said she still hopes the school will use the incident to stress the code of conduct for sporting events because the crowd at the game was particularly rowdy.
Rammer called the behavior “atypical” and said District 200 is “very proactive” when it comes to educating students about the importance of sportsmanship and cheering on the home team without offending visitors.