3rd party to investigate racial incident at Hopkins school

The Hopkins School District has asked an outside party to investigate a racially charged incident in February.

School officials say a third-party investigator will look into how the district handled an incident where several white students dressed up as rappers at Hopkins Senior High. The students were members of the school's ski team and said they were celebrating a state tournament trip.

Black students said that mocked African-American culture, and several put up posters in protest.

Administrators removed the posters, saying the students didn't have permission to put them up, which led to a confrontation between two black students and an assistant principal.

A police report says one of the students put his hand on an officer's chest but the students say the confrontation was not physical.

Both of the black students were charged with a misdemeanor and suspended for three days.

The black students say they were treated unfairly because the district didn't punish the white students.

School officials say they held a meeting between the two groups of students, which they called an appropriate response.

Disciplinary actions the black students faced aren't tied directly to the dispute over the posters, school officials added; it's because of what happened in the assistant principal's office.