ST. PETERSBURG, Fla – It’s been a couple weeks of chaos and controversy involving racism at well-known local school – St. Petersburg Catholic High School.

Some of the most recent incidents at the school include racial slurs and threats with the words, “kill all n-words” written on a bathroom stall.


What You Need To Know

  • St. Petersburg Catholic High School has seen a surge in racist incidents on the campus

  • Students report racial slurs and threats from other students

  • NAACP is demanding change and criticizing how the school administration is handling the situation

The incident brought to light a number of issues of racism at the school and now NAACP leaders are demanding change. The president of the St. Pete chapter held a press conference Tuesday criticizing the handling of these latest incidents and demanding change. About two dozen students also attended the press conference.

“We stand here for the students of St. Pete Catholic. We stand here for the African American students of St. Pete Catholic. We stand simply saying that racism will not be tolerated in our city. We stand here uncovering what has been said and what we expect to take place,” St. Pete NAACP Chapter President, Esther Eugene said.

At the press conference, County Commissioner Rene Flowers called on the school to fire their dean of students for reported claims of racism.

“I’m going to say it. The dean needs to be removed from the position. No one should be in a position of authority when you do not have respect for all of the students that you have sovereign over.”

The school’s principal, Ross Bubolz, said he couldn’t comment on personnel matters. He did say he plans to work with the NAACP to share ideas that are consistent with their teachings and what’s best for the students at the school.

“We are committed to addressing racism within the context of our Catholic faith. As Pope Francis said on June 3 of 2020, ‘We cannot tolerate or turn the blind eye to racism and exclusion of any form and yet claim to defend the sacredness of any human life’,” Bubolz said.

When asked about the claims of a history of racism at the school and a lack of action, Bubloz said there are some bad apples.

“I think that there are again with a large group of people, there are always gonna be people who are not aligned to our mission and our purpose as a Christian school and maybe there’s bad actors and people who are not aligning themselves to what we ask them to do and who we are as a school. And those need to be dealt with accordingly and in a swift manner. Like with all things, you assess it and ask' Could we be better? Are there things we can work on?' That’s the process we’re in now,” he said.

​A number of parents expressed serious concern for their children’s safety at the school including Donnell and Cheryl Grant. Their daughter has attended the school for the past three years.

“It makes me feel helpless that I can’t do anything for my daughter or the other kids that’s going through this,” Donnell said.

His daughter, Terrill, explained some of what she’s experienced.

“I think the most extreme that we had was like the writing on the wall or a student carved monkey into one of the classroom doors,” she said. “We’ve had a student tell us if we continue saying stuff to her she would call the police and see how far we get. We’ve had a boy tell us to go back to Africa.”

She said the experience has made her want to transfer to a different school.

“It’s kind of been difficult because a lot of the like, well it’s weird for us to just go to school knowing that people don’t like us because of the color of our skin,” she said. “It kinda makes me want to just leave the school and go somewhere else. But I know I’ve been there for so long. It’s like I’ve come too far to give up now.”

What’s next is going to be vital for students like Terrill. She’s one 58 black students out of the 411 students who attend the school.

“I think the students need to be talked to in a serious manner and for them to understand this isn’t okay. And what you do affects us and once we leave St. Pete Catholic, we’re gonna take that with us. So what you say can have long term effects,” Terrill said.

So far there aren’t any set dates for meetings with NAACP and the school.