Eastport-South Manor district disciplining students for racist social media video

The Eastport-South Manor school district is disciplining several students featured in a TikTok video recorded at the high school that included racist and derogatory language, district officials said Monday.

In a letter to the community, Superintendent Joseph A. Steimel said the district became aware late Sunday of an “inappropriate” video circulating on social media of Eastport-South Manor high school students dancing in a classroom to a song “with racially derogatory lyrics.”

The district conducted an internal investigation and identified the students responsible for the 17-second video. The district did not name the students, but Steimel said that, per the code of conduct, “The students involved are now facing the appropriate, strict disciplinary action.”

“I wish to assure you that our school district does not take these matters lightly, nor was the material posted in any way reflective of our school community’s standards or expectations,” Steimel’s letter read, adding that many of the district’s buildings have been designated by the Anti-Defamation League as “No Place for Hate” schools, an honor awarded for the district’s efforts to cultivate unity.

The video was deleted from social media Monday morning, but Newsday viewed a copy of it.

In the video, three girls and one boy are seen dancing in classrooms to a song riddled with more than a half-dozen uses of derogatory racial slurs against Black people. In one shot, the Eastport-South Manor Central School District seal can be clearly seen in the background.

The district is located in eastern Suffolk County and has an enrollment of more than 3,000 students and is roughly 85% white, according to the State Education Department. Eastport-South Manor Junior-Senior High School is located in Manorville.

Jason Castle, a civil rights, labor and employment attorney from New Jersey, said his niece, a high school student who is multiracial, recently moved to the district and faced harassment and bullying due to her ethnicity. He said his niece saw the video on TikTok.

“She was hurt,” he said, adding she showed it to her parents. “This video with this racist language seemed to be targeting students of color.”

“Disappointment would be an understatement,” Castle said when he learned of the video. “It was shocking … . . and to see the video was shot in the classroom with the crest of the school behind it — that was just disheartening.”

Castle is calling for accountability from the district and has been seeking to meet with school officials.

Steimel said in his letter that the district conducts training for students in grades K-12 on the appropriate use of technology and how to be good digital citizens.

“As technology — in particular social media — continues to influence our daily activities, events such as the one we were informed about are vital reminders that one’s actions can have consequences, and that our district will hold the responsible parties accountable,” he wrote.

He also asked parents and guardians to help educate students about the dangers of using social media.

“I encourage all to take pause before doing so in order to assess the appropriateness of the content with which they are associating themselves,” Steimel wrote. “Like this recent inappropriate video, these types of hurtful activities have no place in our school or community.”

 — With Shari Einhorn