Of all the things Fairfax County kids get tested on, it looks like they’re missing out on some important lessons in sportsmanship: At a basketball game last month, Langley High School students stomped holes in the bleachers of McLean High School and “hurled insults that bordered on racial slurs,” Patch reports.
For their part, McLean fans chanted the name of a Langley coach’s ex-wife during the close game that culminated in a Langley victory, 43-42.
Some of the biggest jeers from Langley came while the McLean step team performed:
Stepping is a dance performance, made popular by African American fraternities and sororities, involving chanting, singing, stomping of the feet, and clapping of the hands in a synchronized manner. McLean’s step- team has a diverse racial make-up. In past years, it has been a majority African American team.
According to the Langley student newspaper, Ragone asked students to write voluntary letters of apology to McLean for the damage to their bleachers. Patch spoke with Fairfax County Public Schools spokesman Paul Regnier, who confirmed that about 25 bleachers were vandalized and said “the bill for the bleachers will go to Langley.”
Which, of course, means the taxpayers.
