ROY, Utah — The Weber School District announced Monday that it has concluded an investigation into taunting by Roy High School students during a recent basketball game and issued sanctions against the school.
The district said it opened an investigation after receiving complaints about "derogatory comments and barking" by Roy students at a boys' basketball game on their home court. The investigation determined that there were indeed violations of policies enacted by both the district and the Utah High School Activities Association.
The incident in question appeared to be a game on Jan. 13 when social media users claimed that Roy students were barking at certain students on the Hunter High team because of their ethnicity.
As a result of the investigation's findings, the district is imposing some sanctions on Roy High. The student section will be moved to the upper section of the stands for "at least" the next two basketball games, and the district said spectators at future sporting events "will not be allowed to taunt or make any type of animal noise or any other cheer/chant that is meant to bait, anger, embarrass, ridicule or demean others."
Roy High will provide additional staff to "monitor and address inappropriate behavior" at basketball games. The district said it has trained staff to better recognize and handle "discriminatory conduct," and students will "receive instruction on appropriate behavior and will participate in restorative measures."
The district said any future violations of UHSAA Fan and Spectator Policy will cause the individual responsible to be removed from the game and lose privileges. The policy can be viewed online in full here.
"As a school, we recognize and acknowledge our behavior has been harmful to others. Roy High will not tolerate this type of behavior. We sincerely apologize to Hunter High and any other communities that have been impacted by these actions," the district wrote in a statement.
