Weston schools investigate alleged racist social media posts

WESTON — The death of George Floyd while in the custody of white police officers sparked protests against systemic racism across the country, including in the affluent, predominantly white town of Weston.

Residents filled the town green to advocate for change, with some speaking of their own personal experiences. Brian Murray was one such person, spurred on by a recent event.

A week prior to the protest, Murray said his child showed him several photos of social media posts allegedly from Weston students that used racial slurs. Murray said he knew he could not stay silent and needed to speak at the June 7 rally.

“I’m a Weston Black father living here for eight years so I wanted to say something,” Murray said. “Nobody’s really talking about what’s going on.”

The photos had been collected by students, Murray said, with the posts being shared over the past year. The photos were circulated among students before eventually reaching his child, Murray said.

“I believe they were talking with their friends and then their friends turned on them,” Murray said of the photos being released.

One image shows a Snapchat photo posted into a group of friends, according to Murray, of a white teenage boy who used an app feature to make his face appear black. In the text over the photo, the alleged Weston teenager called himself a racial slur and said “I wanna be freeeeee.”

Another photo shows an alleged Weston student, a white teenage girl, holding up the peace sign with text over her image that also uses a racial slur, Murray said.

Once he was made aware, Murray said he reached out to the district administration for answers. But, he claimed, there have been no repercussions by school officials.

Weston Superintendent William Mckersie told Hearst Connecticut Media he had been made aware of the posts and said the district was investigating them.

“We are fully aware of the social media posts that are racially charged,” he said. “We are confronting and dealing with them.”

But the advent of social media in everyday life, certainly since classes have mostly gone online, has presented a new challenge for schools. Mckersie said schools are assessing how to discipline students who are using personal devices, which in many cases fall out of the district’s jurisdiction.

“Having said that, when it flows over into affecting the schools, schooling and the interaction between our students, we confront it and deal with it,” the superintendent said. “We’re actually stepping now more into what may actually be parents and families also having to deal with this because we have no tolerance for it . ... Our policies are clear and strict on this.”

Vincent Mustaro, a senior staff associate for policy at the Connecticut Association of Boards of Education, said disciplinary actions for students’ social media or conduct off of school grounds can be a difficult subject.

“If it’s a school activity taking place off of school grounds, then school rules still apply,” Mustaro said. “But when you get into (anything) other than that, you run into the issue of First Amendment rights, and how far does the arm of the school system go, so to speak.”

Despite the murky waters of self-expression, he said, school systems can take disciplinary action for off-school-ground behavior provided two conditions are met: Does the action violate a Board of Education policy. Does the action seriously disrupt the educational process?

“It’s a difficult area because the courts, too, have bounced back and forth depending on what the situation was,” Mustaro said. “In essence, it’s situation specific on whether the courts will back it up or not.”

Contributed photo Brian Murray-Dalrymple moved his family to Weston eight years ago for the excellent school system for his five children. Murray stands in front of the high school holding a sign he made for a Black Lives Matter protest in Weston on June 7.