By admin 
Black parents and students at St. Francis High School are criticizing how school leaders handled racist and antisemitic slurs and images written on school property in August, saying the response has renewed concerns about whether students of color feel safe and welcome at the all-girls Catholic school.
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The two students implicated in the Aug. 26 episode are no longer enrolled at the private East Sacramento school, officials said. St. Francis officials declined Tuesday to provide details about any discipline, citing student privacy, but said in an emailed response to The Sacramento Bee’s inquiry that the students’ conduct was “unacceptable, inconsistent with our values and was not tolerated.”
Now, members of the school’s Black Student Union Parent Group are demanding greater accountability and transparency from St. Francis President John Moran and the school’s Board of Trustees. They say school leaders were slow to communicate with families, were vague about what consequences the students faced and have not adequately addressed questions about whether school policies were followed.
The group pointed to a Sept. 3 message Moran sent to the campus community eight days after the incident condemning racism at the school.
“I want to be crystal clear — this behavior is unacceptable and directly contradicts the values of dignity, respect, and belonging that we insist upon within our St. Francis community,” Moran’s letter entitled “Important Message to Our School Community,” and obtained by The Bee, read in part. “We hold high expectations for our students and ourselves, both in and out of the classroom, and we will continue working intentionally to ensure St. Francis is a place where racism, hateful language, and symbolism have no place.”
The parent group criticized the message as vague about what consequences the students would face. Moran wrote only that St. Francis was “addressing the situation with the individuals involved.”
“Our focus is accountability, transparency, and the well-being of the school community,” the parent group said in a statement. “Following the Aug. 26 incident and subsequent administrative decisions, students, families, faculty, and staff raised significant concerns about communication, process, and leadership.
“Our concern is not about one disagreement or one personnel decision. We are asking whether established policies and procedures were consistently followed and whether the school appropriately responded to the Aug. 26 incident and subsequent concerns.”
The group invited Moran and other school leaders to a regular meeting in September and sought a review of school policies and practices. It also called for an independent review of the Aug. 26 incident and St. Francis leaders’ response.
The St. Francis Board of Trustees has since “initiated an independent third-party review several weeks ago to conduct an impartial assessment of the incident and the school’s response to it,” officials told The Bee.
St. Francis said key findings from the review would be shared with the community but provided no timeline for when that will happen.
The school did not make Moran available for an interview. In emailed responses to The Bee, he defended the time school officials took to investigate the August episode, saying he first learned about it on Sept. 1 — five days after it occurred.
“It was important that we acted promptly and concurrently took the time necessary to gather the facts, speak with those involved and make thoughtful, informed decisions,” Moran wrote. “In a situation this serious, our responsibility is not simply to act quickly, but to make sure our decisions are informed by the facts and consistent with our policies and responsibilities.”
Moran said he notified the chair of the Board of Trustees, consulted with the school’s executive team and communicated with the community as facts became available.
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The concerns have also revived memories of a 2020 controversy at St. Francis in which a white student appeared in blackface in a Snapchat post to “impersonate” a biracial St. Francis student, who was unaware of the video depiction.
The biracial student and her family learned of the post, and the white student was disciplined. The following February, St. Francis students marched in support of the school’s Black students.
In the years following the blackface controversy, “it’s been good, but the inevitability of something (happening) is always around the corner,” said Victor Briscoe, a graduate of Jesuit High School in the 1980s and the father of a St. Francis graduate. “The cadence is every few years.”
A past president of the Black Student Union Parent Group and St. Francis’ Dad’s Club, Briscoe has ties to Jesuit — the all-boys Catholic school in Carmichael slated to transition to co-divisional education next year — and St. Francis dating back nearly four decades.
“It took protests to move the needle” after the 2020 controversy, Briscoe said. “We want to get closer to a place where this isn’t happening.”
Six years later, parents and students say concerns about racism at St. Francis persist and have been renewed by the August incident.
Students of color continue to raise concerns about the racial climate on campus and whether they can voice those concerns without reprisal. Among the requests from students and parents is a confidential forum where members of the St. Francis community can safely raise concerns.
Parents also say some students of color question whether they are welcome and feel a sense of belonging on campus, with some criticism directed at Moran’s leadership.
Moran said he is listening.
“It is deeply important to me, our Board of Trustees, school leadership, and faculty and staff that we build and protect an environment consistent with St. Francis’ philosophy, including social justice, responsible citizenship and respect for others, and preserve the sense of sisterhood that is so central to our school community,” Moran stated. “My focus is on listening to the community, acknowledging and valuing their experiences, learning from what I hear, and taking meaningful steps to strengthen St. Francis’ cultural climate as a result.”
He said that included bringing in outside experts, expanding education and training, and “ensuring students have meaningful opportunities to raise concerns, share their experiences and be heard.”
But Briscoe said he remained concerned about St. Francis High School and its direction.
“I was a student at Jesuit in the 1980s. There were issues along the way, but the school was always trying to create a sense of belonging and acceptance. I enrolled my children at Jesuit and St. Francis,” he said. “With that understanding, today spells a different practice.”
This story was originally published October 8, 2026 at 7:00 AM with the headline “Racist, antisemitic messages at St. Francis renew concerns among Black families.”
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