THORNTON, Colo. — Things that happen in the outside world can find their way into the walls of our schools.
On Monday, a letter went to parents at Rocky Top Middle School outlining how students created "N-word" passes.
"Our first thought was [for] the safety of the kids," said Principal Chelsea Behannal.
She says the "N-word" passes were distributed among seventh and eighth grade students granting fake permission to use the racially-offensive word.
"The number of kids who saw the 'N-word' passes was somewhere around 20," Behanna said. "The number of students who passed it from here to here, I can't really say, and that's the problem."
The solution, she believes, is to take the issue head-on.
"We have to talk about race in order to diminish the number of hate crimes," Behanna said.
Every family at Rocky Top Middle School in Thornton received a letter, which offers organizations and resources to help kids understand why the "N-word" is wrong.
"You're not a bad person," Behanna said. "You just don't know what you know."
""You need to condemn this language to make sure that people understand it is not acceptable," said Scott Levin, regional director of the Mountain States Region for the Anti-Defamation League.
He said the idea of this "pass" is alarming.
"I was just so disappointed when I saw that it was just painful to see in what was clearly a child's handwriting something that could be so awful," Levin said.
He does applaud what the principal is doing.
"When people are silent in the face of such slurs being made, it almost makes them complicit that they're condoning it," Levin said.
Behanna said the students involved now understand. She said certain kids did receive disciplinary consequences, and she plans to have them make reparations to the school community as well.
"We have to fight against the normalization of hate and violence," Behanna said.
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