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Columbia middle school website screenshot edited to add racial slur

Gentry Middle School in Columbia
Posted at 1:27 PM, Oct 21, 2019
and last updated 2019-10-21 14:27:12-04

COLUMBIA, Mo. — Several students face discipline for editing a screenshot of a Missouri middle school website to include a racist slur against black people.

Columbia Public Schools spokeswoman Michelle Baumstark said Monday that the students posted the altered screenshot online so the image would pop up during Google searches for Gentry Middle School's official website.

Google took the image down after the district reported it, according to Baumstark.

Baumstark said the incident was mortifying and doesn't reflect the district's values. She said the image violated school policies against discrimination and misuse of technology.

Baumstark said student privacy laws prevent her from disclosing individual student discipline.

About 10% of the roughly 950 students who attended Gentry Middle School last school year were black. Data from that year show the school was about 75% white.