4 students responsible for hanged teddy bear, sign at Wakefield HS
School officials said four students were responsible for a teddy bear found hanged by a rope from the roof of Wakefield High School next to a sign that said "Make Wakefield Tripp Again #SmartLunch."
Posted — UpdatedThe bear and sign were discovered Tuesday morning and were seen by many staff members and students before they were removed, Principal Malik Bazzell said.
Parents and students claim the act references the former principal, Tripp Crayton, who was replaced by Bazzell in 2015.
Wake County Public School System spokeswoman Lisa Luten said that law enforcement officers have identified four students responsible for the act but cannot release their names because of their age and privacy laws.
The school and law enforcement will continue to work together to determine if any laws and rules were broken during the incident, Luten said.
Many parents, who did not want to be identified over concerns of how it may affect their children at school, were upset about the incident and said they believe it was racially motivated.
"I was very hurt about this when I heard about it. But I was also angry because I send my child to school to get an education. I don't send him to school to get to walk into the building and be hit in the face with a black stuffed animal being hung from the building," said one mother. "I mean, you hear about it at different schools, but I did not think it would happen at Wakefield."
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