Educators, students and parents at Fred T. Foard High School are looking to change the perception of the school after an incident that some say was blown out of proportion.
It was a small turnout from the community for a Fred T. Foard parent workshop Monday night at Jacobs Fork Middle School.
The high school had an incident in January where a group of four white boys showed a noose made from the string of a hoodie to a black girl, saying they had made it for her, according to previous reports. Catawba County Sheriff Coy Reid has said a student pulled the string out in a class and made it into a noose. The class took a bathroom break, and the boys went into a bathroom. When they came out, they still had the noose, and made a comment to the girl about it, Reid has said.
The FBI, sheriff’s department and the school system investigated the incident, with the FBI determining it was not a hate crime. Two of the boys were given in-school suspensions for what was classified as bullying, according to school officials. Two others received out-of-school suspensions.
Catawba County NAACP President Jerry McCombs told those gathered that they have a great school and that some of the things done and said about the school have been “stretched out a whole lot further than it really was.”
McCombs told about getting a cell phone text from a student at the school who was out eating. A person who figured out that he attends Fred T. Foard said to the student, “Oh, you go to that racist school.” The comment made the student upset, he said.
Foard High School teacher Audrey Hovis, who is black, said when she told some people she was going to teach at the school, some said, “Oh, you’re going to teach at that redneck school.”
Hovis said she doesn’t feel uncomfortable at the school.
“We’re not trying to hide anything,” Hovis said. “I think the perception is that we were trying to hide things behind closed doors. And that’s not it.”
A student at Monday’s meeting appealed to the adults there to step up and defend the school when they hear people make jokes or comments about it.
Ronnie Gore, a parent of a student at the school, told those gathered that more parents need to visit the school and see what’s going on.
After the workshop Monday, Gore, who is black, said he was a little nervous when he first heard about the noose incident. He said he waited two days and then went to see school Principal Sally Bradshaw.
He defended the school, saying, “My daughter loves it here so I wouldn’t dream of taking her out of it.”
Gore’s daughter was part of a group of students that presented a program Monday night on hurtful comments and perceptions, with the catch phrase, “If you really knew me.”
The students performed based on comments written by students in theater and English classes at the high school. Some examples of things students are dealing with at home and school include parent’s divorcing, body image and being called names.
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