Bishop Miege and local police are investigating a racist threat on social media on January 23. Above, Bishop Miege. Stock photo
Bishop Miege High School and two local police departments are investigating after officials said someone made threats against black students at the school on social media.
Roeland Park Private Catholic High School notified families of the threat in an email and said some “identified students” were not in school Tuesday and would “stay off campus while the investigation continues.”
Roeland Park Police Chief John Morris told the Post the department is working with Kansas City, Mo., police on the investigation because some of the students involved live in that city.
Administrators were alerted on Monday evening
- The school’s email to parents says school officials were notified of a “disturbing social media screenshot” on Monday evening.
- That screenshot included racist language and a threat against black students at Bishop Miege.
- “Bishop Miege takes these messages seriously and will deal with them quickly”, reads the message to parents. “Bishop Miege has zero tolerance for any racial threats and threats of violence.”
The students involved stayed at home on Tuesday
- Administrators notified that police and Roeland Park officers were dispatched to the homes of the identified students in Kansas City, Missouri, on Monday night, Morris said.
- Those students will not return to campus during the investigation, the school said.
- Roeland Park School and Police “are taking all safety measures to ensure a safe place for students, staff, teachers and visitors,” Morris said.
No charges have yet been filed
- Morris said it is still early days of the investigation and no charges have been filed.
- Bishop Miege is also conducting an investigation “to identify all parties involved in the threat,” according to the email.
- Peterson did not immediately respond to the Post’s request for more details.
- It is unclear whether any disciplinary action has been taken against Miege students at the moment, but the email states that “appropriate consequences will follow when all the facts are known”.
It comes the week after the racist graffiti at Blue Valley High
- Bishop Miege made his announcement a week after racist and anti-Semitic graffiti was found spray-painted on the press room at Blue Valley High School in Overland Park.
- Images and videos circulating on social media showed graffiti including the N-word, an LGBTQ slur and other derogatory terms spray-painted inside the stadium’s press box.
- Overland Park Police are investigating the incident, which occurred on Martin Luther King, Jr.
