School Officials Denounce Video of Middle Schooler Bullying 5-Year-Old with Racist Slurs: 'No Place'

A Virginia school district has responded to a video showing a middle schooler using racist insults and ethnic slurs to bully a 5-year-old preschooler.

Loudoun County Public School Superintendent Aaron Spence sent a letter to parents and community members on Tuesday, saying the incident “deeply impacted our community and raised important questions about who we are and what we stand for.”

“Let me be clear: hate speech and racial slurs have no place in our schools or in our community,” Spence wrote in the letter, which was obtained by PEOPLE. “Every child, every family, and every staff member deserves to feel safe, respected, and valued. In a wonderfully diverse county like Loudoun, it is not just our responsibility, it is our moral obligation, to honor the dignity and humanity of each individual.”

Spence called on parents to act and said “we must teach our children to see their classmates and their neighbors not as ‘others,’ but as fellow human beings deserving of compassion and respect.” 

“We recognize the powerful expectation that schools lead the way in modeling what is right and just. And we embrace that responsibility,” Spence added.

Spence said “the school has been directly engaged with the students and parents involved and is offering support through the school’s Unified Mental Health Team, including for the 5 year old child and his family, who were the target of hate speech.”

The family of the 5-year-old victim told local WRC that the incident has been reported to local law enforcement, PEOPLE previously reported.

“Every time I saw that, my heart’s broken every time,” the 5-year-old’s mother, who is only identified as Ashley, told WRC during an emotional interview. “As a mother, to see my son insulted by other older kids, my son’s only 5 years old. I just don’t know why those kids are so cruel to say that to my son.”

Ashley and the boy’s father, who was identified by WRC as Sean, told the news station they had moved to Virginia from China and specifically chose Loudoun County as their new home for its neighborhood and schools.

The family said another parent brought the video to their attention after it was shared in a chat group with students from nearby Eagle Ridge Middle School, according to WRC. 

A report was later made with the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office.

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The video shows the 5-year-old boy running from the middle schooler and frantically ringing the doorbell at his house, begging for help, as the middle schooler chases him and repeats ethnic slurs directed at the younger boy.

“No! Don’t hurt me! Don’t hurt me!” the 5-year-old says at one point in the video, holding out his hands and putting a jacket over his head for protection. The preschooler’s mother eventually opens the front door and lets her son inside, unaware of what just happened. The middle schooler tells the younger boy, “Bye, have a good day,” as the mother lets her son inside.

Spence, the school superintendent, told parents in his letter Tuesday that “schools are also mirrors of the communities they serve.”

“If we are to raise young people who respect and care for one another, we must come together — as educators, parents, neighbors, and leaders — to set that example every day,” the school official said. “Our students need the adults in this community to be role models of civility, empathy, and kindness.”