COATSVILLE, Pa., Sept. 24 (UPI) -- An eastern Pennsylvania schools superintendent and athletics director have resigned after racist text messages they exchanged became public, officials said.
The Coatsville Area School District Board of Education was to meet Tuesday night to approve the resignations -- though members of the community outraged over the behavior of former Superintendent Richard Como and athletics director Jim Donato said they don't want the district to accept their resignations, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported.
Parents and students alike say the men should be fired instead.
The furor erupted after a local newspaper, the West Chester Daily Local News, published a string of text messages the two men exchanged during which they refer to black students as the N-word, while also using derogatory terms for women, Jews and Hispanics, the Inquirer said.
Eleven days after the text messages became public the two men resigned, though district officials at first refused to confirm the racist messages were the reason.
As outrage has grown, so too has interest in the district -- from the local prosecutor's office. Chester County District Attorney Thomas Hogan's office is investigating the district, though school officials declined to say what role the text messages have played in the probe.
