The head of the New Prague school district said Monday that an investigation couldn't substantiate allegations that its fans made loud monkey noises at a girls high school basketball game on Feb. 15 while hosting Robbinsdale Cooper High School.
New Prague school chief: Allegations of 'monkey noises' aimed at Robbinsdale Cooper team unsubstantiated
The Robbinsdale superintendent quickly pushed back, expressed disbelief with New Prague's findings.
March 14, 2022 at 8:55PM
Announcement of the findings was met with disappointment and disbelief from the Robbinsdale school district superintendent, who accused New Prague officials of dismissing the taunting that students and staffers say was directed at the Robbinsdale team, which includes athletes of color.
In a letter, New Prague Superintendent Tim Dittberner told staff and students' families that an independent investigation commissioned by the district looked into the allegations and interviewed roughly 20 people who were present, and that "loud monkey noises directed at the opposing team could not be substantiated."
Dittberner said those interviewed included New Prague students, parents and employees, along with one person from the Robbinsdale district.
Not only did no one interviewed say they heard monkey noises directed at Cooper's team, Dittberner wrote in his letter, "On the night of the game, no one, including coaches, fans, and players from the opposing team and the game officials, reported hearing monkey noises to the district. The district only learned of the allegation through a social media post made after the game had ended."
In response Monday afternoon, Robbinsdale Superintendent David Engstrom repeated in a statement what he said a week after the game: "We believe the first-person statements they made about the incident, and we believe the team did experience racist taunts and jeers from the New Prague crowd."
Engstrom added that his district "refused to subject our student athletes and additional staff members to questioning by their investigators — a process that would have forced students and staff to relive their traumatic experience."
Engstrom on Monday went on to affirm his district's decision not to compete in athletics with any New Prague teams "for the foreseeable future."
Dittberner's letter included possible explanations for what led to the accusations, which were investigated by the Minneapolis law firm of Rupp, Anderson, Squires and Waldspurger, a firm that specializes in providing legal counsel to schools and municipalities:
- "While a repeated, low-pitched noise is audible for approximately 10 seconds on the video of the game, what that noise is could not be determined. In addition, the identity of the individual who made the noise could not be determined, although the noise appears to be made by only one individual."
- "The allegation that a New Prague fan yelled out 'monkey' while a player from the opposing team was shooting a free throw was not substantiated. The word yelled out during this particular free throw was 'Nike,' the name of the play called by the coach that the New Prague team was supposed to run following the free throw."
The superintendent noted that the New Prague district had not provided the full report to Robbinsdale school officials, "and they haven't asked for it."
Dittberner also wrote that the investigation's findings "do not take away from the other incidents that have happened at the high school."
Also on Feb. 15, in a game at the New Prague Community Center, the St. Louis Park High School boys hockey team was subjected to racist taunts while playing New Prague High. St. Louis Park athletics director Andrew Ewald e-mailed his counterpart at New Prague, Brad Skogerboe, saying his teams won't play New Prague's at least for the rest of the school year.
The ban "will continue until the harm that was caused is repaired and we are assured that any of our stakeholders, most importantly our students, will not be victimized by racism by any New Prague stakeholder in the future," Ewald wrote.
Ewald cited in his letter separate alleged racist incidents experienced by student athletes from other districts.
Dittberner spelled out in his letter Monday the plan he presented to the New Prague school board on Feb. 28 "to address the school culture, so these incidents do not happen in the future."
- Create a school climate task force to assess the district's needs that will provide an inclusive environment for all students.
- Provide professional development and resources to staff to implement best practices to eliminate harmful behavior.
- Work with student leaders to raise awareness about appropriate conduct, bullying, race and other issues.
New Prague students appeared to add more fuel to the fire on Wednesday, as a TV camera at the Minnesota boys high school hockey tournament in St. Paul caught students flashing what appeared to be a sign for white power. District officials said the upper elementary students making the "OK" hand signal had no idea it could be interpreted as a racist gesture.
"When questioned, the students did not understand what the signal meant," according to a statement issued by the district the next day. "They were mimicking something they saw at an earlier hockey game on the big screen. We have no reason to believe they knew it could signify white supremacy."
Six players plus head coach Garrett Raboin and assistant coach Ben Gordon are from Minnesota. The tournament’s games will be televised starting Monday.
