Forsyth County Schools Superintendent Jeff Bearden announced on Thursday, Sept. 15 that East Forsyth High School Principal Jeff Cheyney will take a temporary leave of absence.
This decision comes after a recording of Cheyney using a racial slur was leaked by a student last Friday.
In a press release, Bearden said Cheyney will use this time to "reflect, process, and move forward."
He also stated that although no variation of the N-word should be used in Forsyth County Schools, students and staff make mistakes.
"Our school district believes that we all can learn from our mistakes," Bearden said.
Original story posted 9-13-2022 at 6:16 a.m.
On Friday, East Forsyth High School Principal, Jeff Cheyney, was recorded using a racial slur in front of a white student and two staff members.
The school system released a statement saying that the principal was trying to correct the student’s offensive language. The student was called into a meeting with staff to address concerns about the student’s continued use of inappropriate speech. According to the school, “the student recorded the meeting without informing the three adults. The student then took a small portion of the recording and shared it with others.”
The district has been forthcoming about what happened. According to the district, in the portion of the recording that was shared, Cheyney can be heard saying, “Cracker is slang for white and it’s the antonym to (full N-word), which is a very offensive comment.”
In the statement released by Chief Communications Officer, Jennifer Caracciolo, Cheyney, “immediately recognized his mistakes in comparing the two words and using the full N-word.”
Cheyney contacted the school district office, as well as met with the parents of the student to share what happened, as well as apologize. The school district has said that Cheyney has not only apologized but vowed to never use such terminology in the future.
“Forsyth County Schools believes that at no time and in no context should any variation of the N-word be used,” says Caracciolo. “Students and adults make mistakes; Forsyth County School believes that we all can learn from our mistakes.”
Cheyney was not at school on Monday.
