There were parents who took part, there was a WIAA official who took part, no one stepped up to help the kids,” Byrd said.
After the incident, Waterford Union High School District conducted an investigation. According to district findings, volunteers were intentionally mispronouncing students’ names, middle school students were referring to Rufus King students as “gangsters,” and a WIAA meet official used racially insensitive language directed at a King athlete.
Byrd said her daughter was “shaken and upset.”
“It’s one of those things you see on TV but doesn’t seem real,” Byrd said. “But it was real that day.”
The school released a statement, saying officials were “committed to holding students accountable.”
The Waterford incident wasn’t an isolated event.