Lake Oswego students planning walk-out over racist incident

School officials say they support their students' voices being heard and that they want to provide a safe environment for their students.

This all stems from an incident in a classroom at the junior high school more than a week ago when three white students handed a post-it note to an African-American student that had the N-word written on it, with the word "dog" written beneath.

Jennifer Cook, the mother of the student who was handed the note, said she was heartbroken when she learned her bi-racial son had been called the N-word, and her son told her it wasn't the first time he's heard the word at school.

"He said that he was upset, but that he's used to it because he hears that word five to 20 times a day at school," Cook said.

In response to the incident, Lake Oswego School District officials issued a statement saying, in part, "LOSD does not tolerate hate speech, bullying, harassment, or any other type of behavior that makes students and parents feel unwelcome in our schools."

School officials at the junior high said they are dealing with the students involved.

This incident comes after a couple of other racial issues at the high school across the street.

In November, teachers at Lake Oswego High School found anti-Semitic posts on a student-run Facebook page and a week later found racist graffiti on a bathroom wall.

Monday's walkout is expected to take place at 9 a.m. School officials said there will be extra adults at the school, as well as counselors.