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Investigation ongoing into hate crime at R-3

Debbie Coleman-Topi by Debbie Coleman-Topi
June 12, 2020
in Headlines
Platte County High School principal

Dr. Keith Jones, PCHS Principal

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Platte City Police Department officials continue to investigate a possible hate crime in which someone spouted racial slurs during a Platte County School District video conference last month. The FBI is also involved in the case.

During a telephone interview on June 8, Police Chief Joe Wellington said the department “continues to investigate” and officers are “waiting on some things” before more information can be released.

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The investigation involves a May 13 online video meeting between new Platte County High School Principal Keith Jones and eighth- through 11th-grade students and their parents.

The meeting, hosted by Jones, was held to introduce him as a new face in the district, in which the upcoming school year will be his first in the district. Jones had been serving as a principal in Lawrence, Kan.

Wellington said investigators continue to search for information about what happened during the meeting in which several persons were heard making racial comments directed to Jones, who continued with the meeting and later reported the incident to district officials.

However, Wellington said he could not confirm or deny if those heard speaking at the meeting were four people, as was reported by the school in an email the night of the incident, and if those persons broke into the meeting or already were involved in the exchange.

“We don’t know that’s the case yet,” Wellington said.

He added that he does not know when information will be forthcoming.

On May 19, Wellington told The Landmark and other media that the FBI and local police are conducting “a joint investigation.” The bulk of the investigative leg work is being conducted by the local police department, he said.

Platte County R-3 School District communications director Laura Hulett said in an emailed statement that district officials “had not been contacted by the FBI” but are “cooperating with the Platte City Police Department and sharing information with PCPD that we receive to assist them with their investigation.”

The incident follows a string of race-related acts at the school district in which nooses have been found hanging in high school bathrooms and some students have reported being the subject of racial slurs from other students in school hallways.

Parents and staff have spoken at previous board of education meetings about problems with such harassment and asked board members and district officials to take some action.

Officials formed a task force to have input in the issues. As of deadline, Hulett and Superintendent Dr. Mike Reik had not responded by deadline to a reporter’s questions about whether task force members have been meeting the past few months, including remotely, or other recent activities of the group.

Tags: platte cityplatte countyPublic Safety
Debbie Coleman-Topi

Debbie Coleman-Topi

Debbie's journalism career began at the University of Missouri School of Journalism, where she was trained.

Her works have appeared in The Kansas City Star and its Sunday magazine, The (Independence) Examiner and TWINS Magazine. Debbie has written for The Landmark for the past four years where she has reported on a wide range of Platte County area issues and people.

These include the longest-running issue of her three-decade career--a massive development in Parkville, which spawned a citizens' movement that objects to the way city officials manage the city.

She is the author of "TWINformation: The Biology, Psychology and Development of Twins”, written in response to having and raising fraternal male twins (she and her husband later welcomed a girl to the family.)

She is also the author of “Memories of A War Bride,” which chronicles the life of her husband's Godmother, a WWII English war bride.

Debbie and her husband, John, live in Blue Springs, a long car drive from events and meetings she covers for The Landmark. In fact, when she first met publisher Ivan Foley, after answering his ad for a reporter she told him she should have packed a lunch for the long journey. When she heard no response following the job interview, Debbie called to ask if Foley was not interested in her joining the staff. He was interested, but assumed the drive was too long.

Obviously, he was wrong.

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