The Lincoln-Way School District Board of Education voted unanimously to allow the students involved in the racial harassment incident during the football game at Homewood-Flossmoor on Sept. 4 to withdraw voluntarily from Lincoln-Way East rather than be expelled.
“This investigation, which involved interviewing numerous students, reviewing multiple video recordings and angles, and speaking with their attorneys, took the administration only eight school days and ultimately resulted in the administration recommending expulsion for the students determined to have been involved,” Supt. Scott Tingley said at the school board meeting on Thursday. “The parents of those students have chosen, however, to voluntarily withdraw their children from Lincoln-Way East High School and forfeit all student privileges rather than proceed with the expulsion process.”
The Lincoln-Way East students were caught on video racially taunting H-F students at a football game in Flossmoor by mimicking monkeys.
The school board did not name the students or specifically outline the reasons for each student’s discipline. The board returned from closed session and voted to allow six students to withdraw instead of being expelled. Tingley spoke after the vote.
“My responsibility as superintendent was to ensure the law and the board of education policies were followed at every step with respect to those students’ discipline,” Tingley said. “To do that, the administration conducted a thorough and timely investigation and assessed each student’s individual level of involvement and offered every one of them the right to be heard.”
The Lincoln-Way school board acknowledged what happened at the football game and released an apology statement the next day.
Later the same weekend, Homewood-Flossmoor officials accused a Lincoln-Way East girls cross-country coach and team members of racial abuse at a cross country meet in Western Springs.
H-F provided written statements from three cross-country athletes describing a Lincoln-Way East coach making comments about “running past those monkeys,” and that some of the Lincoln-Way East team began cheering and making “noises that were racist” and “monkey gestures.”
Lincoln-Way investigated the incident and concluded that “neither its staff nor student athletes intended to harass, intimidate or offend any of their competitors or those competitors’ families.”
Tingley addressed the cross-country incident at Thursday’s board meeting.
“The district and certain of its employees have been threatened with legal action, and the allegations surrounding that incident are currently under investigation by the [Illinois High School Association],” Tingley said. “We are fully cooperating with the IHSA and will cooperate with any other appropriate agency or law enforcement authority should an additional investigation occur.
“While that investigation remains ongoing, I will not make additional public comments regarding the allegations. The district has already made one public statement available noting that it has been unable to corroborate the allegations.
“Once the IHSA has completed its investigation and it is clear that no additional investigations are pending, I intend to address the matter more fully.”
The IHSA’s Matt Troha told the Sun-Times earlier on Thursday that the action at the Lincoln-Way school board meeting would “provide the IHSA with a better timeline moving forward.”