Tweet Attacks | Lake Oswego High Students Suspended Over Racist Tweets

LAKE OSWEGO, Ore. -- Three Lake Oswego High School students have been suspended over what were described as racist tweets about a fellow student.

The tweets were directed at student Marqueese Royster, who recently transferred to Lakeridge High School. He and his mother filed a police report last month.

According to that police report, a Twitter account posted a message directed to Royster's account using a racial slur, and several former teammates reposted it.

The tweet name replicated a decades-long cultural characterization of the city as "Lake NoNegro", then used a variation using a slur to suggest that the school was better off without Royster.

"It was just unbelievable," Royster said of the student tweets. "This wasn't just a joke. I think people were serious . . . I can't give an explanation. I would like to hear theirs."

Lake Oswego principal Bruce Plato sent a letter to parents Wednesday that said his primary concern has been dealing with "students who were hiding behind alias Twitter accounts in order to deliberately hurt others with their damaging messages."

Read Plato's letter

While the incidents involved football players, Plato told parents that "I don’t believe the actions of the students involved were representative of our football players any more than they represent our student body in general."

His letter went on to say, "our focus has been on finding those responsible as well as raising the issue and consequences of social media abuse with all of our students."

Plato also delivered a message to the entire student body on Feb. 24, asking those responsible to stop their actions and for others to help put an end to the behavior.

"As I would expect, the majority of our students rejected the behavior of their peers and assisted us in determining some of those responsible," Plato said.

Three students have been suspended for their alleged participation in the tweet attacks.

"They felt really bad about it," he said of the suspended students, "My impression is that some students made some really bad choices.They thought that they were doing some things that maybe started out be funny, got out of hand, and I think they are very remorseful for what happened."

The racist tweet was preceded by one that created a fake account in the name of a Lake Oswego High vice principal. It suggested that the school smells better without Royster.

Plato's handling of the episode included Lake Oswego police and Twitter administrators.

"A fundamental component of our mission," he told parents, "is that every student should feel emotionally and physically safe every day they enter our school, and we acted quickly to confront this incident."

Royster's mother Annalisa said she remains angry. She has heard no apology from the school, the students who created the tweet, and students who passed along the original tweets.

"We know their names," she said. "Their parents have not said 'hey I'm sorry my child did this to your child. How can we move forward?'"