Hampden DA’s office investigating allegations of racism involving Southwick Regional School on Snapchat

Jennifer Willard, superintendent of the Southwick-Tolland-Granville regional school district, said the district concluded an investigation into what she called a “highly inappropriate and racist" conversation on Snapchat involving Southwick Regional School students.

Allyson Lopez, a parent of a student in the district, said her daughter was harmed in what she described as a mock online slave bidding denigrating students of color. Lopez said her daughter was not contacted by school officials to discuss what happened to her and has not been back to school since the incident took place on Feb. 9.

James Leydon, spokesman for the Hampden County district attorney’s office, said in a statement that the office first learned on Feb. 15 about the "alleged hate-based incident involving juveniles." District Attorney Anthony Gulluni directed his office and its Massachusetts State Police detectives to investigate, Leydon said.

"Hate-based harassment and violence has no place in our community," wrote Leydon. "We will investigate any such allegations and will prosecute any criminal violations vigorously.”

Superintendent Willard in a statement Thursday said the school will organize a special assembly for students when they return from February break for "open dialogue, support, and guidance on navigating challenging situations both inside and outside of school."

Meanwhile, Lopez said her daughter is struggling.

"She's going to wonder if the friends she does have are true because of one, two, three, 10 people's actions,” Lopez said. “How could she handle that? Is she able to handle that? Does she now have to look at everybody differently? I'm hoping not."

The high school student population is 89% white, according to state data.

Bishop Talbert Swan II, president of Springfield’s NAACP chapter, said it’s unacceptable that racist acts continue to occur in 2024.

“People keep telling me that racism is dying with the younger generation. The younger folks have a different attitude about race. Then, you have situations like this where you have 13-, 14-, 15-, 16-year-old kids holding a slave auction or calling people the ‘n word’ and harassing folks,” Swan said. “These racist attitudes are fermented in these young people through their environment, through their parents, through their teaching, through what they're exposed to. No 13-year-old just starts calling people the ‘n word.’ They learn that somewhere.”

The homepage of the school district's website displayed the school's "Non-Discrimination Commitment," stating it does not allow discrimination based on a number of factors, including race. Students and staff should not face "harassment based upon any of the foregoing attributes," the statement reads, adding allegations of harassment will be investigated.

After meeting with the district Thursday, Lopez issued a statement saying she feels "profoundly disillusioned." She said there is a "serious lack of understanding and commitment among the administrative leadership to ensure the safety and well-being of all students because of their race and or ethnicity."

She said she feels compelled to "explore alternative avenues to seek justice and ensure accountability for those responsible," but did not elaborate on what those avenues might be.

This story is a production of the New England News Collaborative. It was originally published by New England Public Media. With additional reporting from the WBUR Newsroom.