Local parents say they are angry that it took a full two weeks before school officials in Northern Virginia publicly acknowledged an incident at a high school football game in which Black students were allegedly spit on and called the N-word.

It happened on March 5 at a football game between Wakefield High School, in Arlington, and Marshall High School, in Fairfax County. Lydia Hatcher, a Wakefield parent, was at the game to see her son Lukai play.

“I’m watching all of this happen, I am seeing my son’s body language,” recalls Hatcher. “My son was immediately a target of a player who I later found out was the same player who targeted him on the basketball court as well.”

Hatcher says her son was spit on by the Marshall player, and also called “boy” and the “N-word” during the game. “Spitting is an assault, in a pandemic — it’s a deadly assault, actually,” says Hatcher.

The incident only became public this week, when students took to social media to talk about it.

“Me and my teammates were called racial slurs, taunted, and even spit on by Marshall players. We also experienced unfair treatment by each of the refs and were harassed from the sidelines by coaches and Marshall parents,” wrote Lukai Hatcher.

At the end of the game a fight broke out, one that Wakefield players and parents say was instigated by Marshall students. Players from both teams were suspended for three games.

“This isn’t new and enough is enough! We should not be punished for defending ourselves and each other,” wrote Lukai Hatcher.

Whytni Kernodle, president of the group Black Parents of Arlington, says Arlington Public Schools officials should not have waited until the incident blew up on social media to address it.

“When things like this happen, people need to know about it,” Kernodle says. “These are the things that my son and his friends have been talking about for almost two weeks. That’s completely and utterly inappropriate, and a failure on the part of the administration and the principal.”

Students have started an online petition calling for an apology from Marshall High School, among other measures. It has garnered more than 4,000 signatures.

Arlington Public Schools officials released statements after the students posted on social media, deploring what happened at the game. “The blatant acts of racism and disrespect towards the Wakefield players are completely unacceptable and will not be tolerated,” wrote superintendent Francisco Durán, in a letter to families.

Durán said Arlington officials had been in contact with officials in Fairfax and at the Virginia High School League, which referees games. Durán wrote that league officials failed to act during the game, “after repeated attempts by players and coaches to alert them,” to the racist behavior.

“This lack of action by officials as players were spat upon and called racist slurs allowed the situation to escalate, resulting in the suspension of three of our players,” wrote Durán.

Chris Willmore, Wakefield’s principal, also wrote to parents, and outlined steps school leaders were taking.  “All coaches have been instructed to leave the field/court immediately if our student-athletes are subject to racist, bigoted behaviors. Our student-athletes will not be put into a position like this again,” wrote Willmore.

Willmore also said he was calling on the Virginia High School League “to take concrete steps to address racism and bigotry with their staff,” and said he had written VHSL leaders describing additional incidents in past years. Willmore said that as for the suspensions of Wakefield students, an appeal had already reduced the suspensions from three games for each player to one game, and “VHSL guidelines do not permit eliminating the suspensions entirely.”

Fairfax County Public Schools conducted a “thorough investigation” into the incident, according to a statement from spokesperson Lucy Caldwell. “FCPS does not accept acts of intolerance. We have expectations of behavior in our students and staff; allegations such as these are taken seriously,” wrote Caldwell.

“The investigation was extensive and involved VHSL, officials, staff, players and families — from both teams.” Caldwell said that all parties were working “to develop a plan for restorative justice.”

A spokesperson for VHSL said he couldn’t comment on the specifics of the incident due to privacy concerns of those involved. However, VHSL did review video of the game after learning of the racist incidents, said Mike McCall in an emailed statement.

“The VHSL membership has mandated that the use of any racial slurs would not be tolerated and adopted policy that any use of inappropriate terms would be an ejection. The VHSL has penalties in place for violations,” wrote McCall.

“The VHSL continues to make a point of major emphasis with our coaches and official associations that there is no tolerance for racially charged words or actions and strongly condemns racial slurs of any kind,” he continued.

But Whytni Kernodle isn’t satisfied with the delayed response from officials.

“It goes into that whole ‘white silence equals violence’ — pretending that things don’t exist or leaving them out of notice of the community is perpetuating it,” she says. “What we should not be doing is needing Black children to lead the charge against racism, and anti-Black racism specifically.”

APS officials say they’ve had conversations with the families involved in the incident. But Lydia Hatcher says she hasn’t been contacted. “The spin that’s being put on what has been done is incorrect, and that enrages me on top of being enraged by the incident,” Hatcher says.

Hatcher says that as far as she knows, it’s the first time her son has experienced such overt racism during a game. “This is one of the things that Black parents work so hard to protect their kids from. When they’re in an environment that’s controlled by adults who are supposed to protect them, they have — my son has been failed.”