The Rochester City School District offered a public apology to a mother of a student after an automated phone call used a racial slur in place of her daughter's name. The school district reports that the error was due to an issue in the software from a contracted vendor. Still, this parent is curious about why the “N-word” was in the company’s system, to begin with.
The mother Nacomi Stewart, received a robo call approximately two weeks ago when her daughter, Nicarri Stewart, was absent a day from school, according to ABC 13. The message stated: “This is Edison Career & Technology High School. Your daughter, N****r, has missed period 1."
“Blackboard Connect,” the contracted company the district hired to send out the mass calls, seems to have gotten it wrong with the software, according to deputy superintendent Lawrence Bo Wright. Though claims have been made that the call has been removed, Stewart claims she’s still recently receiving the calls.
“They're making me look like I’m slightly bananas and lying about this when they're saying they rectified something they haven't rectified yet.”
The school district’s IT department is working with the vendor to determine why Stewart is still receiving calls to ensure this doesn’t happen to anyone, again.