This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2011, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Sandy • What's being debated at Alta High School as either a careless teenage stunt or a menacing racist act has led Canyons School District to launch a full-scale investigation of racism at the school and place Alta's principal and an assistant principal on paid administrative leave.
Principal Mont Widerberg and Assistant Principal Mark Montague have been placed on leave during the investigation. Ray Jenson, a former Bingham High principal who has taught at Alta High, is serving as substitute principal, Canyons spokeswoman Jennifer Toomer-Cook said.
The investigation stems from a report earlier this month that a white Alta High junior, during a spirit assembly in which juniors wore white, donned what looked like a Ku Klux Klan hood, which had holes for his eyes. Larz Cosby, a multiracial student, complained to the school's administration and wrote about the incident on his blog.
"Who in their right mind would plan to blatantly enforce their hate for others in a large gathering in a public school? How is it a joke? How is that funny?" Cosby wrote. "My experience is that to be a nonwhite individual is a bad thing at Alta High School."
Superintendent David Doty asked the district's Office of Civil Rights and Accommodations to investigate the complaint.
"Our examination of the events at the school that day has uncovered evidence of other very serious incidents that warrant immediate and thorough attention, including appropriate administrative action pending the results of the investigation," Doty and Canyons Board President Tracy Cowdell said in a letter posted online to the Alta High Community. "We strongly and unequivocally prohibit and condemn all forms of racism, hatred and discrimination in Canyons schools."
Due to privacy concerns, Canyons wouldn't disclose whether, or how, the student involved in the initial incident was disciplined.
Tony Romanello, a science teacher at Alta High and president of the Canyons Education Association, said teachers weren't given any details of the investigation when they were told Monday afternoon that the principal and assistant principal were being placed on leave.
"Whenever an allegation is made against a school employee, it is standard procedure to put them on paid administrative leave," Romanello said. "I don't think the fact that they've been put on paid leave while an investigation is going on should brand them as not good people or that they are even guilty. … We respect the fact that the investigation has to be private, but it's hard to deal with the speculation."
The incident at the spirit assembly has sparked a divided response from students, parents and others in the Alta High community.
Cosby's blog post has drawn more than 750 comments, ranging from praise for his decision to come forward to criticism that he is merely trying to get attention.
Some of the comments include threats of physical violence and racial epithets aimed at Cosby.
"While many people are angered that we have spoken out on this issue," Cosby's father, Sam Cosby, wrote in a statement, "many more have expressed gratitude for providing a platform where Hispanic, Jewish, African-American, Caucasian, Asian, Pacific Islanders, people of different religious beliefs and sexual orientation[s], where their stories can be shared and have their voices heard."
Sandy police were at Alta throughout the day Tuesday as part of Canyons District taking an "abundance of security precautions," Toomer-Cook said.
Zack Larsen, a junior at Alta, said he witnessed the March 18 incident at the spirit assembly. He believes the costume, a white pillowcase with eyeholes, was meant as a joke to antagonize seniors, who were dressed in black for the event, which pits the school classes against one another. Larsen said the student removed the hood and apologized when he realized he had offended a black classmate.
"I don't want to condone what he did because what he did was not right. But some of the reactions that's gone on isn't right, either," Larsen said.
Larsen, who is white, said the incident has made the differences between black and white students at Alta High more apparent.
"Before this incident, we were Alta High School students," he said. "Now it's kind of [this] realization that there's white people and then there's black people. … I think this needs to be fixed because, I think, in a sense, the way it's been handled could cause racism in the long run."
Davonte Merritt, a senior at Alta High who is black, said he was "furious" when he saw the student wearing a KKK-type hood repeatedly dart onto the basketball court and run in circles, making a heil Hitler salute.
"On the second or third time, I wondered why no one had stepped in and stopped him," Merritt said. "A lot of the people are thinking this has been blown way out of proportion. … I think that what needs to happen is going to happen."
Merritt said he lives in the same neighborhood as the student involved, and both come from LDS families.
"I honestly don't think it was his family or him even [who] was racist or intended it to be. But what other way can you intend it to be? You put that [white hood] on, that's a symbol for something. I don't think he's a bad kid. I just think he made a really bad choice, a really stupid decision."
Diane Zundel, a parent and chairwoman of the school's Community Council, said the panel had already planned to launch a civility campaign at Alta. Now the council also wants to emphasize sensitivity to cultural and ethnic diversity, she said.
She would like to see both Widerberg and Montague return to Alta. Based on accounts she has heard from students, Zundel said she thinks "more is being made of" one student's "bad decision" than needs to be.
"What I'm hearing is that most parents are assuming that this one incident is what has caused [Widerberg and Montague to be placed on leave]," Zundel said.
"I think there must be more to it than this, so I'm going to wait to hear the rest of the story before I pass judgment on that."
More online
Read Larz Cosby's blog • http://larzcosby.wordpress.com.
See videos of two students' reactions to the civil-rights investigation at Alta High • http://www.sltrib.com.
Read Canyons letter to Alta community • http://bit.ly/e4pDEw