The following statement was published by the Burlington School District.
On Wednesday October 6, an incident occurred during a girl’s volleyball game between South Burlington (SBHS) and Burlington High Schools (BHS) in which racial and transphobic slurs were directed toward Burlington players. The referee was alerted of the incident and stopped play of the match to speak with the coaches and players.
After confirming with coaches, it was determined that significant harm was done and the decision was made to stop the match, with Burlington coaches helping their players leave the court.
SBHS has offered to forfeit the game to indicate support of the BHS team and to show their intolerance of this kind of behavior.
On Thursday, members of the SB volleyball team traveled to BHS so that players on both sides could connect and participate in a restorative circle to begin repairing the harm done.
School officials be collaborating on the creation of a statement that will be shared at the beginning of every SBSD and BSD game that clearly states that any and all instances of discrimination will not be tolerated before, during, or after athletic events or in day to day lives.