Student punished over ‘unbecoming’ photo shared online, Louisiana school says

Officials at a New Orleans preparatory school say disciplinary action has been taken against a student seen in an offensive photo posted on social media.

Holy Cross School addressed the photo Monday, but stopped short of disclosing the student’s punishment.

“It has come to our attention that a photo with a caption was posted on social media pages of an individual in our school sweatshirt displaying actions unbecoming of a Holy Cross man,” administrators at the all-male, independent Catholic school wrote in a Facebook post. “The individual’s parents have been identified, his parents have been notified and the appropriate actions have been taken.”

The post originally appeared on Snapchat, according to WDSU. It has been deleted, though officials say there are likely screenshots circulating online.

Holy Cross officials didn’t say what was in the photo, but online posts allege it showed the student kneeling on another person’s neck — seemingly mocking the death of George Floyd.

Floyd, an unarmed 46-year-old Black man, died in May after a Minneapolis officer knelt on his neck for about eight minutes while three other officers failed to intervene. The officers were later fired and charged in his death.

“As a school, we want to reiterate that Holy Cross will not tolerate violence, harassment or discrimination in any form based on race, color, national origin, age, religion sex or disability,” the school’s statement concluded. “Thank you for your continued support.”