Webutuck addresses racist photo, talk of acts of violence

WEBUTUCK— Bad choices. That’s what a group of students from Eugene Brooks Intermediate School (EBIS) have made in recent weeks. Firstly, a couple of students took an inappropriate photo hearkening back to days of racism and bigotry in the Deep South. A week later, a group text got so worrisome that the Dutchess County Sheriff’s Office was called to investigate.

According to Superintendent of Schools Raymond Castellani, despite the bad behavior, everything in the North East (Webutuck) Central School District is now under control.

“I can tell you they were held to the highest level of accountability by the district,” he said on Monday, June 24.

Here’s what happened. On Friday, June 14, the district became aware that one of its students had an “inappropriate picture” taken by another student and posted on Instagram. Castellani described the photo.

“There was one student in the picture,” he said. “It is a young man, one of our students, in a Webutuck baseball uniform and what he appears to be wearing is a hat/mask that resembles the Ku Klux Klan.”

The superintendent said he thought it was not only inappropriate, but “disgusting.” He said he immediately realized the issue needed to be addressed both on “a smaller scale, regarding students, and on a larger scale, regarding the education of the school district and community with regard to this type of act.”

Although Castellani couldn’t disclose the students’ identities or what grade the two students were in, just that they were at EBIS, he did say that they were disciplined. Again, he couldn’t share details. He also said it’s been hard to gauge how the photo was perceived by other students.

“I haven’t really gotten that sense,” he said, adding it’s Regents week. “I haven’t gotten any feedback, though I’m sure many of them have the feeling of most people that this was unacceptable.”

Just one week later, on Friday, June 21, another incident brought the Sheriff’s Office to campus. According to the superintendent, the district was made aware of a group chat among students “who were fooling around and teasing,” which led to a situation that the district “considered substantial enough to investigate further.”

Castellani debunked rumors that it was a bomb threat. He couldn’t confirm if the text was related to the previous week’s incident.

“There was discussion among a couple of them in regard to acts of violence against the school,” he said. “There was no threat made. I don’t know how to categorize it: violent acts against the school, but this is an ongoing investigation so I can’t give details. But there was no bomb threat.”

From the start, he added, the authorities were called in to investigate. And while details are few, Castellani did say that four students were “responsible for taking it too far,” although more may have been involved.

“All will be held accountable,” he said.

Letters informing the community about these two incidents have been posted on the district’s website, www.webutuckschools.org.

“The Webutuck Central School District strives to be a district that prides itself in being respectful and inclusive of all,” stated the letter about the photo. “This photo was completely unacceptable and not an accurate depiction of the environment that we strive so hard to foster and support here at Webutuck Schools.”

Castellani added that he wanted the community to rest assured that the district “investigates every matter seriously and wants to ensure the safety and wellbeing of students and staff.

“Any behavior of violence or threat, or acts of bigotry, will not be tolerated by this school district,” he said.

If someone sees something, hears something or knows something, the superintendent said, let the appropriate authorities know. Parents and students, or anyone else for that matter, can contact the district directly or through anonymous alerts, which has a link on the district website.