Arrowhead High School student's racist social media post leaves families concerned

HARTLAND, Wis. (CBS 58) -- According to Arrowhead High School, a racist social media post by one of its students, which was created months ago, was posted online by an Arrowhead parent.

The post sent shockwaves through the school district.

CBS 58 reviewed the alleged photo. It shows a group of minority students sitting around a table with racist text written across the picture.

The school said the post was created by a 9th grade student.

According to a statement from the school district, the image was shared amongst a small group of students and never made public until it was posted online by a parent this week.

"I'm upset about the fact that it happened. I'm upset at the fact that my grandson would even think that this is a way of life," said Caroline Norman, whose grandson attends Arrowhead High School.

"He wasn’t sitting at that table, but he was sitting at that table," said Norman.

Norman said families were notified Tuesday about the racist social media post going around Arrowhead High School, where her grandson is a freshman.

"We send them to you trusting that you're going to have them in a healthy educational environment every day. This is not," said Norman.

The district said school administrators did not know about the photo.

They said it's unclear why the photo just surfaced, but it may have been an attempt to connect the photo to an unrelated incident between students this week.

In a statement, the school district said in part, "the unacceptable language is the result of an extremely young, immature student who had a complete lack of awareness of the implications and impacts of using this racist term."

District leaders went on to say the post does not represent the Arrowhead community.