Student listed as ‘Black Guy’ instead of his name in yearbook, Indiana official says

An investigation is underway following a “truly reprehensible error” in a yearbook, the superintendent of an Indiana school district said Monday.

The yearbook for Brown County High School in Nashville, Indiana, referred to a Black student as “Black Guy” instead of his name, a photo shared on social media shows. The error came in a caption for the school’s basketball team.

Superintendent Dr. Laura Hammack and principal Matthew Stark issued a statement to parents and students apologizing for the error, according to WTTV. They said the error violates their nondiscrimination policy.

Nearly 97% of Brown County residents are white and 0.7% are Black.

Hammack later addressed the school district in a Facebook Live video about the incident.

She said the school district will undergo a “relentless investigation,” but as of Monday she did not know how and why the error occurred. The school will work with the yearbook vendor “to better understand” the process of how pages are submitted.

“This situation is not inconsequential,” Hammack said. “That means consequences will need to be deployed.”

She mentioned a possible solution being a reprint of the yearbook, and allowing students to exchange them free of charge.

“I want the community to understand ... that this is fundamentally a situation that we are taking as the only priority for our time right now and we are working very hard to make sure we can move forward,” the superintendent said.

Brown County is situated about 50 miles south of Indianapolis.

This story was originally published October 20, 2020 at 3:06 PM with the headline "Student listed as ‘Black Guy’ instead of his name in yearbook, Indiana official says."