The Superintendents of the Victor Central and Fairport Central School Districts have put out a joint statement about what they are calling a “racially-charged” situation that happened this week.
The statement comes from Timothy Terranova of Victor and Brett Provenzano of Fairport. It said that on Wednesday evening, during a Victor/Fairport boys varsity basketball game, a section of Victor Senior High School students made racially offensive noises while a Black Fairport student was shooting foul shots.
The two superintendents said that after reviewing video of the game (which was held at Fairport), and speaking to individuals from both Victor and Fairport, it became clear that the actions by the Victor student cheer section “were extremely hurtful to the individual that was targeted and his teammates.”
The statements said that the incident also had a far-reaching impact within the Fairport school community, and Terranova and Provenzano said the incident goes against the core values of both school districts.
The superintendents said that there are no excuses for this behavior, saying that “all forms of hate are unacceptable.”
In a separate comment put out by Terranova, he said that there is a strong feeling from people who heard the noises felt the impact was “both racially offensive and hurtful.” And he also said there is a strong feeling by Victor students who were involved that the noises were not meant in a racially offensive way.
Terranova said that he and other members of the administration at the Victor district will meet with students from their high school over the next few days and will also continue to work with the Fairport community.
There was no indication in the statement released by the two superintendents on Thursday evening whether any students would face disciplinary action.
