Ohio student barred from prom over racist promposal sign

School district officials in Ohio are barring a student from attending prom after seeing an image of the teen’s racist invitation to the dance.

Clear Fork Valley Local Schools Superintendent Janice Wyckoff said a picture shared to the student’s social media account stated, “If I was black I’d be picking cotton but I’m white so I’m picking u for prom,” according to WGN TV.

{mosads}School officials became aware of the sign after it sparked backlash online. 

Wyckoff told the outlet it was unclear whether the student was a junior or senior and declined to identify the student. The photo reportedly showed the student holding the sign with his intended prom date, who is not a student in the school district, the outlet reported.

“To be frank with you I thought, ‘Oh my goodness this is awful,’ ” Wyckoff said.

She told WGN that the student has expressed remorse for his actions and has since deleted social media posts featuring photos of the sign. 

“This is a process, growing up is a process, and this is one of those moments that’s a teachable moment for this kid that will last a lifetime,” Wyckoff said. “Kids need to understand, when you’re celebrating things it doesn’t give you a pass on using inappropriate racial slurs.” 

She added that she doesn’t believe the student’s actions represent the student body or the school district, which is composed of roughly 1,700 students.

“I don’t believe that this is any group-think on the part of the student body,” she said. “This is one person making a bad decision that’s going to reflect on everybody. This is actually a terrible day in the Clear Fork Valley.” 

Wyckoff did not say whether any further disciplinary action would be taken.

Students at a Washington state high school staged a walkout last month to protest a classmate’s similar racist invitation to a school dance.

Hundreds of teenagers at Issaquah High School organized the protest over a picture posted to social media which showed a teenage boy and girl holding a poster that read “[Redacted], if I was black, I’d be picking cotton but instead I pick you. TOLO?” KOMO News reported.