Kings Releases Statement Regarding Recent News Reports
Dear Kings Parents,
You may have seen the evening news on Monday regarding a non-school sponsored recreational basketball team with students from Kings Mills, Ohio wearing inappropriate jerseys. While we are terribly disappointed in this news, we will take this opportunity to learn and grow from this experience together. Kings Local Schools strongly condemns any type of hateful, inappropriate, and racist commentary. We have an outstanding, supportive community, but we are not perfect.
As a district, we take this situation very seriously and wanted to provide you with a few facts. This team is not affiliated with the Kings Local School District or the Kings Basketball Association (KBA), an organization which serves over 400 boys and girls between second and sixth grades. Teams in grades 7-12 are organized by parent volunteers who work independently, under the jurisdiction of the Cincinnati Premier Youth Basketball League (CPYBL).
The coaches are volunteers and not hired by the school district. We do understand that the students involved are Kings students and the team’s rent our facilities. After the district was notified of the team’s behavior, the district immediately started the process of gathering information and evaluating the team’s use of our facilities. Additionally, the team has been dismissed from the CPYBL for the rest of the season and will no longer use Kings Facilities.
As a District, a top priority is educating our students and promoting a positive school culture. Over the last two years, we have implemented a program called PBIS, Positive Behavior Interventions Supports which promotes positive character development. Additionally, last year, a district Diversity and Inclusion Task Force was created to embrace diversity and cultural differences, not only in our schools but in our community and beyond. We have also provided our staff with the opportunities to attend cultural competency training during our Professional Development days. Together we can strive to actively promote a culture of inclusiveness and acceptance. Even though these systems are in place, we know we can always improve.
Our job as educators is to help guide our students to do what is right. We have to do better. We will do better. We will make it a priority to look for programs that we can bring into our schools to increase our awareness of these important issues.
We thank you for your continued support of our district.
Sincerely,
Tim A. Ackermann
Superintendent