SAN ANTONIO, Texas — What began as another lesson of 4th period virtual geometry class at MacArthur High School, turned into something a bit more disturbing Friday afternoon.
One parent, who wished to remain anonymous, said another person logged into the Zoom-based geometry class using her 16-year-old son’s full name. But instead of his picture, the intruder used a photo depicting two individuals dressed as members of the Ku Klux Klan.
The Zoom disruptor spent the next 40 minutes sharing racist and sexual content with the remote class.
One parent noticed what was going on and contacted school officials. The unruly Zoom bomber disappeared by the time an administrator accessed the online geometry session.
A North East Independent School District spokesperson declined to elaborate on the incident but directed KENS 5 to a letter that was sent to parents by MacArthur High School principal Pete Martinez:
Dear MacArthur Parent/Guardian,
I want to let you know about an unfortunate situation that occurred during your child’s virtual Geometry class today. As you may be aware, there is a virtual waiting room where students go before their teacher allows them into a Zoom call. As the teacher began granting access to everyone in the waiting room, an individual used another student’s name to enter the class. The individual then proceeded to disrupt the class by making racial slurs and showing racist and sexual images.
We understand this may have been upsetting for your child if they witnessed this. We sincerely apologize and this should not have happened. NEPD is investigating further to see if we can identify the individual masquerading as a student. We have counselors available should your child need to talk with someone about what they saw. We have discussed with our teachers the importance of monitoring all the students’ screens while bringing students into the virtual classroom. In addition, we are addressing this situation directly with the teacher of this class.
We take this very seriously and do not tolerate this type of behavior. If the person responsible is a student, they will face serious disciplinary consequences. If it is not a student, we are working to find out who it is. If your student has any information about this incident, we ask them to please come forward and tell their administrator. In addition, please take some time to remind your children of proper behavior while on virtual learning and to avoid sharing or displaying on media, their zoom links and their names. I want it to be very clear, that the student whose name was used by the intruder was not that student at all, and that individual whose name was used had nothing to do with what happened.
If you have any questions regarding this matter, feel free to call me at 210-356-7600.
Sincerely,
Pete Martinez