Anne Arundel County students involved in a video showing a student with special needs being bullied have been identified and disciplined, officials said Friday.
The video from Severna Park High School showed a student using a racial epithet and “belittling and demeaning” phrases toward a student with special needs. The video was sent to students and staff.
The student who made the statements and the student who videotaped the incident have been identified, district spokesman Bob Mosier said.
“The school either is taking or has taken appropriate action with regards to anyone who has found to be involved,” Mosier said. He declined to share details of what that action entailed.
School system leaders were investigating the video, according to a letter from the high school’s principal to parents earlier this week. The school’s resource officer is also involved in the investigation.
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“As a school community, we must never condemn children. However, I do condemn the actions in this video in the strongest possible terms," principal Lindsay Abruzzo said in the letter. "They are unacceptable anywhere, especially in a school setting where part of our mission as a collective community is to cultivate students who are kind, accepting, and inclusive.”
According to the school system’s student handbook, “bias behavior/language” and bullying incidents can invoke the district’s most severe disciplinary measures, which include suspension and expulsion.
The video was sent to Severna Park students and staff via AirDrop, a mechanism that allows rapid file transfer between Apple devices. The feature can allow interactions to remain anonymous.
A Twitter account also posted the video online this week, noting that it took place at Severna Park High. The account has since been deleted, but before it was, Michael McWhorter — a filmmaker based in Florida who has a large TikTok following — was sent the tweet by one of his followers. He posted about the incident on his own TikTok account and encouraged people to contact the school. McWhorter said he wanted the students involved to learn that the behavior was wrong while they were young.
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“A lot of times I think parents — and I say this as a parent myself — don’t want to overstep. We assume our child knows this is wrong,” McWhorter, 45, said in an interview with The Washington Post on Friday. “I’ve learned we can’t just assume.” He discouraged anyone from trying to contact the student who made the statements or sending threats to the school.
In the letter to parents, Abruzzo applauded students and staff who received the video and quickly notified administrators. She also asked parents to inquire with their students about any other information about the incident and to “impart to them that actions such as this are simply not OK.”
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