ACTON, Mass. (WBZ NewsRadio) — Acton's Board of Selectmen has denounced "vulgar ... racist messages" that were sent to Acton-Boxborough school committee members during a virtual meeting Thursday night.
The Board of Selectmen said it had been made aware that during last night's school committee meeting, "multiple people" in virtual attendance via Zoom used the Question and Answer function to send "vulgar and hateful, racist messages" to the school committee members.
"We deplore and denounce these acts of hatred. As a Board, we are instructing Town Manager John Mangiaratti to work with the Acton Police Department to initiate a hate crime investigation," the Board said. "We understand that the Town Manager has already been in contact with the Boxborough Town Administrator and police in that community as well. We urge police to conduct an aggressive and thorough investigation."
The Board said members of the public did not see the hateful messages, due to correctly configured security and privacy settings.
"Nonetheless, bad actors attended the virtual meeting and used its platform to send these terrible messages to the school committee members," the Board added. "We are committed to a transparent process, and we will provide updates to the public on that investigation when available and appropriate."
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Written by Brit Smith
(Photo: Getty Images)