Christopher Haxel

Lansing State Journal

DEWITT, Mich. — School officials are investigating reports that students at DeWitt Junior High School targeted minority classmates with racially charged chants Wednesday, and at times locked arms to create a "wall," in reference to what President-elect Donald Trump has promised to build between Mexico and the United States.

Officials have identified at least two racially charged incidents that took place at the school, said DeWitt Public Schools Superintendent John Deiter.

In one incident at 7:05 a.m., two or three boys lay down in a school hallway and linked arms, as if beginning to build a wall, said DeWitt Public Schools Superintendent John Deiter.

►Related: Royal Oak students chant 'build the wall' in viral video

"They were parallel in the hallway, not blocking it," he said. "Nobody's progress was impeded, nobody was not allowed to pass, nothing was said to any other students."

The hallway was mostly empty because it was so early in the day, and there didn't appear to be any victims so a teacher "shooed" the students away, Deiter said.

Deiter confirmed that a second incident involved a student who "had been blocked by other students" but declined to discuss details.

DeWitt resident Corina Gonzalez told the State Journal that Maliah Gonzalez, her seventh-grade daughter, was targeted in the second incident.

"She attempted to get to her locker and there were some boys blocking the locker," she said. "And they were chanting things such as 'Donald Trump for President, let's build the wall, let's make America great again, you need to go back to Mexico.'"

Corina Gonzalez said her daughter, who is Mexican American, was with two or three Latino friends when the incident happened.

"I was born and raised in DeWitt," Corina Gonzalez said. "Racism is something that happens in DeWitt; it's primarily a Caucasian community, so racism is going to happen, but it's not supposed to happen in the schools and it's not supposed to be tolerated."

About 94% of the school district's approximately 14,053 residents are white, according to census information.

Officials also received reports that students were saying "inappropriate things" throughout the day, and are investigating those claims, Deiter said.

School Principal Keith Cravotta sent an e-mail to parents on Wednesday that said, in part: "After the school day, it was brought to our attention that some students made a choice to act in a disrespectful manner on the way into the school building this morning. Our initial understanding is that the situation was related to the presidential election."

Thursday afternoon, Deiter sent a second e-mail to parents explaining the district's efforts to investigate the claims.

"We plan to address them very specifically and we will also address them broadly to prevent further incidents and to make sure that all of our students feel safe and accepted at school," he wrote.

Gonzalez said her daughter was "petrified" to go back to school Thursday, so she decided to accompany Maliah inside the building.

She said her daughter protested, saying, "these are eighth-grade boys, Mom, they're even taller than you."

"Right then and there I knew that she was definitely more harassed than she understood," Gonzalez said. "She was scared of the boys, and where they were positioning their bodies."

There were rumors of additional incidents being spread among students and on social media, but Deiter said officials have only confirmed two specific incidents.

"I do not think it is a coincidence that these incidents happened the day after a very contentious election," he wrote in Thursday's e-mail. "This election weighed very heavily on many adults, and it has weighed very heavily on our children as well."

Contact Christopher Haxel at 517-377-1261 or chaxel@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @ChrisHaxel.