Some parents upset about chants from student section during basketball game

UNIONTOWN, Pa. — Several parents of Uniontown High School basketball players are upset about words chanted by Connellsville High School’s student section during Wednesday night’s game.

Uniontown parents told Channel 11 the chanting came from Connellsville students as they held up a Donald Trump sign. Parents said they shouted the remarks while the Uniontown players were at the foul line during the first half of the game.

"They are chanting it over and over again, and I don't understand. What does Trump and 'build the wall' and 'send them back' have to do with a basketball game? That's horrible," parent Tasha Walton said.

One parent said the chanting only happened during the first half of the game.

"If you know something is that divisive, why would you do something like that? What other thing are we supposed to think other than you were trying to be racially intimidating?" Tiffany Blaho of Uniontown said.

Channel 11’s Melanie Gillespie reached out to both school districts and was told in a statement that the Connellsville athletic director stopped the chanting within seconds of it starting.

"…and addressed the student section... regarding how the chant could be offensive and is not appropriate.  The students involved then met with the high school principal and athletic director to reinforce that this type of behavior is not representative of the Connellsville School District."

Connellsville’s administrators also apologized to those offended.

Uniontown’s superintendent released the following statement:

"These types of actions have no place anywhere in our schools. It's a sad reflection of what is occurring throughout the country and reactions such as this along with violent protests nationwide reflect a deep division in our society."

"It doesn't matter what your intent was, it's how they took it. So just say, ‘I'm sorry,’" Blaho said.

Cox Media Group