While speaking to the middle schoolers on Sept. 16, Pillow casually used the N-word delivering a message about student behavior, and it was caught on camera.

“Trenton Rosenwald middle school at its finest! This was this morning! I have 2 children that was in this gym! An[d] they wonder why it’s so many problems in this school,” a parent named Kassy Jones wrote beneath the video, which she uploaded to Facebook.

In the video, the principal can be heard explicitly discussing the students’ behavior by saying, “The white kids want to call the Black kids n***ers.”

This immediately causes students to begin murmuring in shock, to which Pillow responds, “Nuh uh, don’t say it, because you’re the ones that are saying it! And the Black kids wanna call the white kids crackers.”

“I just got that on video,” the student who recorded the incident whispers at the end of the clip, which spread like wildfire on social media.

The principal dropped hard R! #DramaAlert pic.twitter.com/J18whdEunk

— KEEM 🍿 (@KEEMSTAR) September 18, 2022

“He fr could’ve just said the phrase ‘the n word’ he did NOT have to say it,” one user wrote beneath Jones’s original Facebook post.

“There are SO MANY ways he could’ve addressed this issue. This is definitely the WORST way. Plus the southern accent & didn’t hesitate. Principal is ignorant as they come,” a Twitter user wrote of the incident.

Eventually, the matter was addressed by Tim Haney, Director of Trenton Special School District.

“Friday morning, TRMS Principal Paul Pillow and I met concerning a meeting he had just conducted with the student body. The meeting was held in the gym before the school day started to address behavioral expectations of students during this time,” Haney began, according to WBBJ.

“He informed me of the nature of his message and of his regret as to how it was delivered. We agreed that some time away from the principals’ chair was in order,” he continued. “Mr. Pillow and all of us at TRMS and TSSD are distressed over this and will work to better handle future situations. We offer no excuses for it and will own any criticism of it.”

Haney proceeded to explain Pillow’s rationale during the assembly, saying that the principal was “attempting to eliminate the use of a couple of derogatory, racially charged terms and, in so doing, made what he and I both consider to be a mistake in his method of delivery in that attempt.”

“I would ask everyone to please consider his intent and the context in which he used the terms,” Haney wrote.

Despite Pillow’s comments, Haney proceeded to say, “My intent and hope is that he returns to the principal chair and we continue the excellent academic progress that TRMS has delivered for the 9 years he has been principal here.”

“I would like to again extend apologies to all who were offended and/or concerned as to this situation. We sincerely regret that it happened and are addressing it accordingly,” Haney noted at the end of his statement.

This situation comes on the heels of a principal at East Forsyth High School in Gainesville, Georgia, was recorded saying the N-word during a conversation with a white student, as Blavity previously reported.

What do you think about the situation?