High school apologizes for post referencing police as oppressors
By Alejandra Pulido-Guzman - LETHBRIDGE HERALD on October 28, 2021.
Chinook High School is apologizing for an Instagram post that included an reference to law enforcement as perpetrators of violence or oppression.The post, which has since been removed, provided tips on avoiding certain types of Halloween costumes.
Along with a written apology posted to the Chinook Instagram page, which in part reads “To link those in uniform to figures in history such as Hitler is deplorable and something that never should have been shared,” the school also posted a video apology to acknowledge the mistake that has been made.
Bill Forster, Principal of Chinook High School, along with Bruce Carbert, one of two instructors in charge of the school’s Instagram account who was responsible for the post, appeared on a video on Instagram to take responsibility.
“As a school, one of the fundamental values that we leave with our students is to take ownership. And we are here to take ownership for the harm that this post has caused to the police, their families and to the community. We will make sure we are doing better in the future to really assess our posts and our messages and to think about the impact before we post them,” said Forster in the video.
“What we posted last night was wrong. It was a gross lack of judgement on my part to post content that inexplicably listed members of law enforcement beside figures such as Hitler and Bundy. And although we didn’t create the content, I chose to repost the content without critically reviewing the message that it sent and need to take ownership for doing so,” said Carbert in the video.
Carbert continued by saying that in no way what he posted reflects the values of the learning environment at Chinook High School, or his own as an individual member of the community.
“I am so sorry for the harm that was done to the families and members of law enforcement and to our community as a whole,” added Carbert.
Administrators at Chinook met with students to discuss the ramifications posts of this nature can have. And a letter containing an apology on behalf of the entire Chinook community was also sent home to parents.
Lethbridge School Division also recognized the serious nature of the error and offered sincere apologies to the entire law enforcement community in a press release. At Wednesday’s Police Commission meeting chief Shahin Mehdizadeh offered that the incident does not speak to the relationship they have with the School District in any shape or form. “We have an amazing relationship with the administration of the school board, in fact our officers won an award very recently that was given to them for the good work they do with the students in different schools,” he said. “I am very humbled to see how the citizens of this city came forward and supported the police department,” said Mehdizadeh. Follow @APulidoHerald on Twitter 6
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