Memphis City Schools Beat Blog

Interim Supt. Dan Ward sent a statement to The Memphis Board of Education and WREG-TV late Wednesday night saying the district is conducting an internal investigation on a YouTube video depicting Mitchell High School students engaged in a "rape dance" at a high school dance. His text follows below.

Board Commissioners:

The district is very aware of the concerns of our employees, parents and the community regarding videos posted on the Internet. We would again like to make you aware of our position in dealing with this troubling matter and remind you that our investigation remains open.  Although we thank the media for bringing this matter to our attention, we now are handling this situation as an internal matter to be investigated and resolved.
Therefore, we have respectfully declined further public comment.  However, we are remaining in communication with our parents and staff, and we will not lose sight of our most important goal -- educating our students in a safe and nurturing learning environment. Additionally, we will continue to inform you all of any developments over the course of this ongoing investigation.

In the meantime, we have included below for your perusal a list of correspondence with WREG and our parents regarding this situation.

Thank you for your understanding.

Respectfully,

Dan Ward
Superintendent
Memphis City Schools
The video, first shown last Monday on WREG-TV, has been a staple of their May sweeps coverage, with stories each night talking to parents and community members about the incident and asking district administrators school board members and parents for their reactions.

The videos have attracted national attention, leading to Ward's appearance on Fox News' "The O'Reilly Factor" Monday night.

Ward told The Commercial Appeal today that he does not condone the students' actions and is awaiting a copy of the video requested from WREG-TV before making any decisions about disciplining school administrators involved.

You can read more about this issue in Thursday's editions of The Commercial Appeal.