‘disturbing actions’

Four Students Booted From High School for Mocking George Floyd Murder on TikTok

The tone-deaf social media post sparked a Change.org petition demanding the students’ removal.

Four White Knoll High School students were banned from returning to school this year after posting a TikTok that re-enacted the murder of George Floyd, a Black man killed by Minneapolis police, reports the State. The tone-deaf social media post sparked a Change.org petition demanding the students’ removal and garnered hundreds of signatures. “Though the video was created off-campus at a private home and shared outside of school hours, the unacceptable and disturbing actions of these students negatively impact their school and all of our students,” White Knoll Principal Ted Daughtrey wrote in an email to parents. “The four students will not be allowed to return to school, nor participate in any athletic or extracurricular activities, for the remainder of the 2021–2022 school year.”

Daughtrey says the school is working with the Lexington County Community Mental Health Center to bring people together to figure out how best to move forward, with a helpline and in-school counselors available for students, staff, and families. “Racism, in any form, will not be tolerated by our students or staff and will be addressed immediately,” said Lexington 1 Superintendent Greg Little.