Parents, civil rights leaders demand tougher response to Aledo students’ ‘slave auction’

Parents, civil rights leaders demand tougher response to Aledo student ‘slave auction’

Parents and civil rights leaders in Parker County are demanding a tougher response from the Aledo school district after finding out students staged an online slave auction of minority students.

ALEDO, Texas - Parents and civil rights leaders in Parker County are demanding a tougher response from the Aledo school district after finding out students staged an online "slave auction" of minority students.

Aledo ISD said in a statement on Monday there would be disciplinary action at its ninth grade campus in wake of the racist social media posts.

Screenshots of the online post include students bidding for their Black classmates in what’s referred to as an "expletive" auction.

FOX4 obtained the district’s initial response to the student group posting -- what some parents complained was a ‘softball approach.’

It was a school news item dated the week of April 5. Principal Carolyn Ansley wrote, "We had an incident of cyber bullying and harassment…"

It also focused on the difference between a bystander and upstander on social media.

"A bystander allows things like bullying to happen without speaking up, but an upstander has the character to speak up to the bully and or tell a teacher or administrator,"

On Monday the district spoke of the incident in more specific terms, noting its racially offensive nature and said disciplinary action was taken -- though not detailing what type of punishment or how many students were disciplined.

Eddie Burnett, president of the Parker County branch of NAACP, has a message for Aledo ISD administrators and will request to speak during public comment at the district’s next regular board meeting on Monday.

"You have to be unambiguous about what your policies are, what the rules are, what the consequences are and what the reason is for putting so much emphasis on it. You can’t be trying to excuse the behavior at the same time you address the problem. Because if you do you cancel that anything you’re trying to do," he said.

Civil rights attorney Lee Merritt also confirmed he had a meeting Tuesday with some Aledo ISD parents. The outcome of that was not yet immediately known.