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HOMEWOOD, Ill. - Students at a south suburban high school were accused of displaying "racist harassment" towards students from another school during a football game on Friday night.
What we know:
Students from the visiting Lincoln-Way East High School allegedly harassed students from Homewood-Flossmoor High School during the third quarter of a varsity football game, according to a statement from the latter school.
"It is with great disappointment and sadness that we communicate today. On Friday, September 4th at the end of the 3rd quarter during the Varsity Football Game against Lincoln Way-East HS, 5 Lincoln-Way East student fans made a very bad choice to engage in disrespectful and racist harassment towards HF students seated in the bleachers. We want to commend our staff who acted swiftly and safely removed those individuals from our property and helped our students remain in the bleachers and safe."
The school did not detail what exactly the students did, but the statement added that Homewood-Flossmoor leadership was working with Lincoln-Way East officials and local authorities, "as we consider all options to protect against this in the future, including legal options."
Homewood-Flossmoor added, "We will not allow this ignorance to distract us from our commitment to excellence and our long history of inclusion and racial respect in our community at-large. We also will not tolerate this type of racism and disrespect towards members of our HF Community."
In its own statement, Lincoln-Way Community High School District 210 apologized for the behavior:
"We are aware that a group of five Lincoln-Way East students displayed inappropriate and offensive behavior at the football game against Homewood-Flossmoor on Friday night. The students involved are not members of the football team.
"We would like to sincerely apologize to the HF community for the behavior displayed by these students. This behavior does not reflect the expectations and standards we have for Lincoln-Way students.
"The district is taking this matter seriously. We have identified the students involved and will follow through with the district’s discipline policies and procedures to the fullest extent."