School Starts Entire Diversity Program Over One Tweet

Blake Neff

A high school in Massachusetts has pledged to launch an entire brand new diversity program after illegal immigrants were offended by a student’s tweet.

According to the Revere Journal, the incident happened following local elections in early November, when a Revere High School (RHS) civics teacher sent a tweet to students mentioning how low voter turnout was.

In response, one student replied that the low turnout was because the Boston suburb has a high population of illegal immigrants who are barred from voting. As it happens, the student’s explanation was incorrect; voter turnout only counts the percentage of eligible voters who turn out, and non-citizens are categorically excluded from this group.

But right or not, several Revere students and parents were appalled by the student’s tweet, and now RHS has promised a strong response, announcing a new cultural sensitivity program that will be mandatory for all students going forward.

“There are a number of kids at the high school whose parents are illegal immigrants and were offended,” said superintendent Dianne Kelly. “The high school has been working with the students and working with teachers and working with them to develop a cultural sensitivity program that will be required of all freshman during their advisory period.”

The strong response is coming even though, Kelly says, the student’s comment wasn’t deliberately offensive.(RELATED: Federal Judge Says Illegal Immigrant Felon Can’t Be Deported Because He’s Transgender)

“The comment wasn’t meant to disparage and we sincerely believe that when the student told us,” she said. “But it highlights the fact that we don’t really consider our words.” Even though Kelly says the comment had innocent intent, she said the student responsible had been punished anyway, though she didn’t disclose what the punishment was.

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