FARMINGTON--Farmington High School's administration is taking action after students taunted students from another school about their SAT scores.
Some fans who were at a Farmington-Capital Prep girls basketball game on March 4 started chanting in a taunting manner about SAT scores. Farmington was losing to the Hartford magnet school at the time.
"In the final seconds of the game, some students began a chant that was mean-spirited and displayed poor sportsmanship," Farmington High Principal Bill Silva wrote in a letter to parents that FOX 61 obtained.
In 2015, Farmington High School students scored on average a 563 on critical reading, a 577 on math and a 559 on writing. At Capital Prep, a magnet high school in Hartford, students scored a 408 on critical reading, a 420 on math and a 396 on writing.
Capital Prep's principal, Dr. Kitsia Hughey Ferguson, said her students and student athletes are tired of the misconception that being good at sports means you can't also compete academically.
Ferguson gave a talk to her students on Tuesday about the incident, during which she said, "I cannot even tell you how angry that made me. Number one, because of the assumption that because we're good in athletics we can't possibly be good in academics. And we know not only just at Capital Prep, but across the country that kids in schools just like this are killing the SATs."
Students and administrators at Hartford's Capital Prep will meet Thursday during school to discuss the hurtful chants.
Capital Prep has a 100 percent acceptance rate to four-year colleges over the past decade, according to Ferguson. Her students are planning some type of event to respond to the incident.
Here is the full letter that Farmington Principal Bill Silva sent home to parents about the incident:
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