Kings principal used the N-word in a meeting. Then he said it again to a black student.

Months after a principal in the Kings Local School District said "n---ers" in a staff meeting, he said a version of the word multiple times to a black student, upsetting the teenager and his mother.

Kings High School Principal Doug Leist was not reprimanded in either case.

At least one person formally objected each time to Leist's use of a racial slur. Kings Superintendent Tim Ackermann received the complaints, according to records obtained by The Enquirer.

But Ackermann defended Leist's uses of the N-word during a recent meeting with The Enquirer and the principal.

Leist did not deny his use of the slur in either incident. He said he used it to convey inappropriate language, a justification Ackermann echoed.

"We're learning that even using it specifically, there were still people offended by it," Ackermann said, "and we have to learn from that."

Some contend the word is inappropriate in any context.

Stacie Belfrom, a Kings school board member who is black, released a statement on the issue, saying, "I believe that particular word is one that no one should use."

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Leist has been the principal at the high school in Kings Mills, a suburb northeast of Cincinnati, since August 2014. Ackermann credited him with creating a diversity and inclusion task force several years ago.

The high-performing district has found itself in the center of several racially charged incidents already this year.

In January, a Kings recreational basketball team wore jerseys with "Coon" and "Knee Grow" printed on them. Though Kings students played on the team, it wasn't operated by the school district.

A few weeks later, a black janitorial worker found a rope hanging from a school dumpster and thought it was meant to intimidate her. The next month, multiple teachers made comments about deporting students.

More: Coach silent as Kings parents trying to figure out how racist jerseys ended up on kids

More: Student: ‘I had to fight back tears’ after Ohio teacher’s deportation comment

More: After racist jersey scandal, rope found hanging from Kings school dumpster; was it a noose?

Listen to emotional resignation from Kings school board member Audio from the January 9, 2018 Kings School Board meeting where member, Kerry McKiernan, resigns amid a racist jersey scandal.

Days after the jerseys became a national talking point, Leist assembled his staff for a meeting to let them know they were supported and that the incident didn't reflect the culture of the district.

In the meeting, Leist said, he used the N-word while listing intolerant social media activity from students.

In a recording of the incident, Leist can be heard saying "n---ers" shortly after mentioning a Confederate flag. Moments later, he tells staff it's their responsibility to confront racism.

Leist's comments during the meeting prompted a staff member who is also a parent of a multiracial student to speak out. She sent an email to Ackermann, which The Enquirer obtained through a public records request.

"I am floored," the employee wrote. "How are parents with non-White students supposed to feel comfortable with their kids in his (Leist's) care?"

Then, in late September, Leist had a private discussion with a black student concerning a dance routine he had planned for a pep rally.

"Does the song say 'n---a'?" Leist said, according to an email sent by the student and obtained by The Enquirer.

The student left and returned with a friend. Leist said the word three more times during their conversation, according to the student.

"He could've easily said 'the n-word' or 'inappropriate language' and I would have got the point," the student wrote in his email. "I was extremely uncomfortable."

Leist told The Enquirer the student wanted to know "specifically what was wrong with the words (of the song), so I answered his question."

A staff member at Kings, who did not wish to be named for fear of reprisal, said the student spoke with several teachers shortly afterward.

"By the time he was finished telling his story, he was crying," the staff member said.

The student's mother wrote in an email to Ackermann that her children don't feel welcome in the district. She called for action, writing that "sweeping (racism) under the rug has to stop."

Joe Mallory, the Cincinnati NAACP's first vice president, said that as an educator, Leist should have known better.

"With all the things that have happened there, I don’t think they get it," Mallory said. "If they did any type of training, it didn’t work."

Kings Local Schools: What you need to know Kings Local Schools is in Kings Mills, Ohio, a suburb of Cincinnati.

Ackermann said he and Leist met with the student and his mother on Oct. 5 and "handled" the issue then.

In the interview with The Enquirer, Leist and Ackermann seemed to give contradictory statements as to the effect of the word on the student.

"He (the student) said in the meeting, 'I was upset at the time,' " Leist said, before Ackermann interrupted to say it was unfair to re-create their conversation in the meeting with the student.

"Even though I think it shows he (the student) wasn’t upset," Ackermann said, "and at the end we talked it all out. ... It helps show Doug’s not a racist."

Leist declined to directly answer a question about whether he'd say the word again.

Seated at a conference table, within reach of a paper copy of goals for embracing diversity in a district that's about 88 percent white, Leist paused after being asked if he'd now eschew the word.

"I can absolutely say this: I would never intend to hurt someone," Leist said.

Ackermann said no investigation other than his own was conducted in either incident because he "had all of the facts."

During the meeting with The Enquirer, Ackermann also lamented that a news story would lead some to deem Leist a racist. The superintendent seemed to discredit the employee who objected to Leist's use of the N-word at the staff meeting because she didn't hear the slur firsthand, and he questioned why a tipster had gone to a newspaper and not him.

"There's really no story here," Ackermann had said earlier by phone. In the meeting, he expressed concern that this story may adversely affect Leist's future job prospects.

"We know in our hearts we're not racist administrators," Ackermann said.

Leist apologized to the student, Ackermann said days after meeting with The Enquirer.

The district released the following statement.