Somers player kicked off lacrosse team for racial slur

SOMERS – A junior varsity boys lacrosse player was kicked off the team and suspended for five days for calling members of the New Rochelle girls track team the n-word.

The lacrosse team was returning by bus to the school after a game on May 2 when one of the players, a 10th-grade student, used the racial slur against four girls walking by the bus, Assistant Superintendent Kenneth Crowley said.

"They were pulling along the high school sidewalk, and our school was hosting a large track meet invitational from another school," Crowley said. "The girls were walking by, and one of the kids used the n-word."

The incident is the second this year involving high school students from predominantly white districts using racial slurs against students from more racially diverse schools.

In February, during a boys basketball game between Mahopac and Mount Vernon — whose team is all black — the Mahopac student section briefly displayed a Confederate flag. Several students also posted racist tweets directed at the Mount Vernon team, including one that referred to them as "monkeys."

The Mahopac students involved were suspended by the district.

Both the junior varsity lacrosse coach in Somers and the bus driver heard the comment, and they immediately went up to the girls to ask what they had heard, Crowley said.

The girls had heard some "boisterous noise" but not the word in question, he said.

The coach then addressed the whole team in the locker room, and the student who used the word apologized to the coach and the team.

An email was also sent to the JV lacrosse team parents.

"It happened on a Friday evening, so on Monday, we had a meeting with the team," Crowley said. "The team was also disciplined. The principal spoke about the gravity of the situation, and each student was asked to write a letter of apology."

The following weekend, the students were asked to come early to set up for a school festival and were required to stay to clean up at the end.

"It was a teachable moment, and the coach took immediate action," Crowley said. "We also reached out to the New Rochelle athletic director, but they hadn't heard anything."

The student, who has since returned to school, is being required to undergo counseling sessions until the end of the school year, Crowley said.

"Everyone was appalled by the incident. But this is a 15-16-year-old child who had a momentary lapse in judgment. It was not a pattern of behavior," Crowley said. "We preach tolerance in our district and are confident in our diversity awareness training we have for our 4th-to-12th-grade students."

Twitter: @SwapnaVenugopal