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Prior Lake investigation ends with two students disciplined for racist messages

A district spokesperson said, "Both incidents were legitimate and caused harm in our community."

PRIOR LAKE, Minnesota — The messages were stark and blatantly racist. 

First, on Feb. 22, a black 15-year-old girls basketball player reported finding this note in her gym bag that said, "get off our team monkey."

"I was hurt, like, who could have wrote this?" Achai Deng said in an interview at the time.

Then, six days later, a student reported finding this message written on the girls' bathroom mirror stating, "All Black students KYS" -- which is slang for "kill yourself."

As a result of the incidents, the Prior Lake girls basketball team forfeited the rest of their season and the coach resigned.

Administrators hired an outside firm to investigate.

In a note to parents Tuesday night -- five months after the investigation began -- Superintendent Michael Thomas wrote in part:

"The investigator concluded that it was 'more probable than not' that specific students were responsible for writing each message. The school district intends to impose discipline with respect to these two students consistent with its discipline policy."

A heavily redacted copy of the report provided to KARE 11 News reveals only one student helped the investigators, but the bulk of the inquiry revolved around handwriting analysis by a forensic document examiner.

She compared handwriting samples from four members of the girls basketball team, and the handwriting expert stated she's "pretty confident" that one of them wrote the note.

KARE 11's Lou Raguse spoke at length with the father of the basketball player who found the note. He said the school hasn't talked to them yet about the investigation's findings, so they will wait until that conversation before saying anything else publicly.

Concerning the message on the mirror, according to the Savage Police Department -- which helped the school with the initial investigation -- the school initially thought the culprit was actually the same person who reported finding the message, based on surveillance video and handwriting comparisons.

But the outside firm's report indicates she is the only one who agreed to an interview and was "a credible witness."

The redacted report doesn't reveal who wrote the message, but in response to a question whether the incidents are legitimate or a hoax, a district spokesperson responded, "Both incidents were legitimate and caused harm in our community."

The father of Achai Deng, the basketball player, says she's had to deal with people at school accusing her of making up the racist note. Their family hopes this investigation, when they learn more, will help them all move forward.

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