HARTFORD -- Basketball star Desiree Elmore hit the science lab on Thursday to calculate the next move in a whole different ball game: she and her fellow classmates at Hartford's Capital Preparatory Magnet School are trying to figure out a response to taunts about their SAT scores made by suburban students at a recent game.
"It just basically means that they're better than us in academics, so you know, for them to say that, we just felt discriminated against," said Elmore, a student athlete who gets A's and B's. She's headed to Syracuse University next year and plans to major in journalism at the Newhouse School of Public Communications. She will also play on the team's 14th-ranked basketball team.
Academics is a big focus at the college prep school, said Dr. Kitsia Ferguson who told FOX 61 that 100 percent of students get accepted into four-year colleges.
To combat the misconceptions, Elmore and teacher Lauren Davern created a call to action. They summoned dozens of students to spend part of their school day thinking up ways to turn this negative into a positive.
The brainstorming session birthed ideas like a statewide ban on racist and discriminatory chants by the Connecticut Association of Schools or CIAC, a student exchange program and campaigns via video and on social media.
"If you take out color, if you take out religion, if you take out whatever it is, we're flesh and bone and that's our main message," said Julio Leon, a sophomore whose group focused on communication.
"We had the idea to do a teach-in where a couple of our students would go to their school [Farmington], talk about our area, what we do as a school to study and how the SATS affect us and how what they said affected us," said Esau Greene, a junior.
Their next step is still the air. What's clear: the ball is in Capital Prep's court.
"As long as everything is running well, things are positive, we're just going to keep going," said Elmore of the call to action.
"So many of the obstacles they have to get through to even get to school, people don't understand. So I'm always proud of them, but particularly today, I think I'm the most proud I've ever been," said Davern.
The principal of Farmington high school, where the teasing fans attend, sent FOX 61 this copy of a letter sent home to parent after the basketball game:
Dear Parents:
I am writing to provide further information about the inappropriate fan behavior by some Farmington High School students at the girls' basketball game versus Capital Prep on Friday, March 4. In the final seconds of the game, some students began a chant that was mean-spirited and displayed poor sportsmanship. Both Jack Phelan, our Athletic Director, and I intervened immediately to stop the chant, and we spoke to the students involved right after the game and again in school on Monday. Over the weekend, we communicated with the Athletic Director at Capital Prep to apologize for the display of unacceptable behavior. We are always clear with our students about our expectations for appropriate fan behavior, and we always take action when inappropriate behavior occurs, just as we did in this situation.
I was disappointed by the actions of some of our student fans at Friday night's game. Both teams played with great skill, passion, and teamwork, and this incident took away from an excellent athletic competition and it took away from the dedicated student athletes both at Capital Prep and FHS. It is my goal that Farmington fans will always be respectful and appropriately spirited in their cheering. While for most of the evening this was the case, clearly improvement is necessary, and we will continue to address this important issue.
We are a school with high expectations for respectful behavior and sportsmanship on and off the field of play. I am confident that this incident is not reflective of the beliefs or actions of our students on a daily basis as members of our school community. It does provide us, however, with an opportunity to learn and to grow, and I have already started the conversation with our students about our collective next steps.
Please let me know if you have questions or concerns arising from this incident. As always, I am grateful for your support of Farmington High School and our commitment to continuous improvement.
Thank you,
Bill Silva
Principal
Farmington High School