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Westwood middle schoolers received ‘offensive, racist’ airdropped messages, principal says
The school will now have stronger enforcement of its "no cell phones during school hours" policy.
Several students at Thurston Middle School in Westwood were subjected to “highly inappropriate, offensive, and racist messages sent by anonymous users” sent via AirDrop to their iPhones, Principal Michael Redmon said in a letter to parents Wednesday.
Redmon described the incidents in the letter, The Boston Globe reported, saying several students received messages from an iPhone with a username alias that included the n-word.
He said also one student was sent a username alias that used an offensive phrase about President Joe Biden, the Globe reported, and one student received an “unkind image intended to make fun of the recipient.”
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“The recipients of these messages communicated their feelings of upset and anger at having been targeted in this hurtful manner and have reported feeling violated by the use of anonymous messaging capabilities used to offend others and themselves,” Redmon wrote to parents.
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“These hateful messages were clearly intended to put down others and cause disruption — they have no place in our community.”
Users must be within 30 feet of a recipient to AirDrop something.
The Globe reported that Redmon said the school’s internet system cannot prevent AirDropped messages, but that students can turn the feature off on their phone.
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To prevent further instances, the Globe reported, the school will begin stronger enforcement of its policy that cell phones not be used during school hours.
“In these incidents, cell phone use has moved beyond distraction to being destructive,” Redmon wrote.
The Globe reported that Redmon said the school is still investigating who sent the messages, and that if the sender is a student, they will face punishment.
A meeting on the incidents for parents is set for May 4, the Globe reported.
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