Massachusetts

Wellesley High School Investigates Racist Email to Black Teacher

A disturbing email sent to a teacher at a Massachusetts high school has led to an investigation by the school district and local police.

The anonymous email was sent to an African-American teacher at Wellesley High School.

According to Principal Jamie Chisum, it contained "racist tones, language and repulsive terms that were highly insulting." In a letter, Chisum also said that "the teacher was shocked and hurt by the contents of the email."

"Things like this have happened at the school before," said senior Isabelle Maggioni. "It's really not OK for it to keep happening."

"While I do not believe this incident is representative of our community as a whole, when I consider other incidents that have occurred in recent years, I also believe we cannot treat this as an isolated occurrence," Superintendent David Lussier said in a statement.

"I know that there's a lot of talk about the school needing to do something, the community needing to do something, but I still don't see a whole lot of action behind that," said parent DD Marcoux.

One student, Caroline Harding, posted about the incident on Facebook, hoping to foster conversation to keep this kind of behavior from happening again.

"I have immense faith in this community and I do believe that we can bounce back from things like this," said Harding, a junior at Wellesley High School.

Some students believe the email may have come from one of their classmates.

The school district is working with its technology department and police to try to identify the sender.

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