Principal: Trump chants toward minority athletes crossed line

conference playoff game.

In a letter to parents, Canton High School Principal Andrew DiPippo said the chanting went beyond free speech or political speech.

“While students’ right to free speech and forming educated opinions about politics and current events is a cornerstone of our educational system, the exact point where political opinion converges with disrespect, discrimination or hate speech must be separated,” he wrote. “We have a reputation as a welcoming community, and these students crossed this line with their comments and have damaged our reputation.”

The student body at the high school in Canton, an affluent suburb about 15 miles northwest of Hartford, is about 84 percent white, according to state education data from the 2015-16 school year. More than 69 percent of students at the magnet school are either African American or Latino, according to the state statistics.

Leslie Torres-Rodriguez, Hartford’s acting superintendent, called the chants “unacceptable conduct” and expressed disappointment that it would occur in an athletic setting.

The taunting display was the second aimed at minority students from a Hartford magnet school in just over a year. Last March, students from Farmington High School, in another predominantly white suburb of the city, chanted “SAT scores” during a girls basketball game against Capital Preparatory Magnet School.

Farmington officials stopped the chants and apologized for the insults, which implied the suburban students were intellectually superior to those from the urban school. That incident led to a Hartford-sponsored forum on race, racism and equity.