School Superintendent Exchanging Racist Text Messages

By Glenn Minnis

School superintendent exchanging racist text messages has caused a firestorm resulting in his resignation and that of the athletic director with whom he shared them.

A Philadelphia school superintendent has been forced to resign and now is the subject of a criminal investigation after a litany of racially explicit text messages he allegedly exchanged with another senior-level administrator were recently exposed.

Richard Como resigned earlier this month after Coatesville High School director of technology Abdullah Hawa stumbled across the explosive transmissions while upgrading his school issued cell phone to a newer model.

School athletic director Jim Donato, the man with whom Como reportedly exchanged the texts, has also resigned and is likewise now under intense criminal scrutiny.

"It was very difficult for me when I found the texts," said Hawa. "But right away, I knew I had to do it."

On Aug. 15, Hawa was instructed to wipe away the data from the phones of both Como and Donato and as the 52-year-old Lebanese American toiled to do so, he scrolled through an assortment of old text messages for the purposes of deleting them. Instead, he soon found himself blown away by the language being openly used by the two.

“All should just have whatever first names they want… then last name is N-!” read one transmission. “Will N-word report to office, pardon the interruption but will N-word report to the nurses office. N-word to lunch now,” read another.

Before long, Hawa found himself coming across postings derogatively aimed directly at him, where he was referred to as a “camel jockey” and “Arab control.”

Shaken by his discovery but clear about what his response should be, Hawa immediately went to the office of district middle school director Teresa Powell to share with her what he had sadly discovered.

From there, the pair pieced together a transcript from Donato's phone, described as an expansive litany of “lewd, sexist” messages, “rife” with N-word and describing women as “pieces” and mocking nicknames for school employees.

School superintendent exchanging racist text messages. Photo Credit: nbcphiladelphia.com

"It was hard," Hawa, a graduate of Coatesville, said of internalizing just what he was reading. "I was very hurt,” he said, adding that the messages about him served as a painful reminder of his childhood in war-torn Lebanon and the bombing that killed his father and younger sister in 1976, just weeks before the family was set to leave for America.

After alerting superiors of his discovery, Hawa and other school officials contacted Chester County District Attorney Tom Hogan who instantly instructed him to “lock down the systems” and ensure that no one tampered with any data.

Somewhat amazingly, Como is now claiming he feels as if he is the one now being victimized. Attorney Sam Stretton insists his client is now the victim of “continuing harassment” from school and state officials in the wake of his actions being brought to light.

School board president Neil Campbell issued a statement on behalf of the district, calling Stretton’s claim of harassment “ridiculous.” "Anybody who tampers with evidence or intimidates witnesses relating to this investigation will be arrested and prosecuted," added Hogan.

The Coatesville Area School District is one of the most racially diverse in the Philadelphia suburbs and the most racially diverse in Chester County, with about 42 percent African American students, a school official said. The Coatesville Area NAACP has requested that it be included in the selection process for the hiring the district's next superintendent.

Featured Photo: Superintendent Richard Como and Coach Jim Donato of Coatesville High School in Philadelphia exchanged racist text messages. Photo Credit: nbcwashington.com