DEERFIELD TOWNSHIP, Ohio -- The superintendent of the Kings Local School District responded Tuesday to outrage over some students' basketball jerseys, saying, in part, "We have to do better."
The students, all teenagers, played in the Cincinnati Premier Youth Basketball League, a recreational league not affiliated with the district other than renting gym space.
The team had a sexually suggestive name, Wet Dream Team, and photos online show their jerseys had thinly veiled racial slurs such as "Knee Grow" and "Coon."
Cincinnati Premier Youth Basketball ended the team's game before it was over Sunday and banished the team for the rest of the season.
Kings Superintendent Tim A. Ackermann said the district started looking into the team's use of school district facilities after it learned about the behavior.
He said Kings already has a character development program for students and a Diversity and Inclusion Task Force -- but he indicated there needs to be more.
"Our job as educators is to help guide our students to do what is right," Ackermann's statement said. "We have to do better. We will do better. We will make it a priority to look for programs that we can bring into our schools to increase our awareness of these important issues."
In a statement Monday, Kings division coordinator Charrise Middleton said Kings Rec Basketball "does not in any way support or condone the uniform infractions that occurred."
The team's unnamed coach offered this statement through Middleton:
"We sincerely apologize to anyone that was offended by the jerseys. We offered to cover them up or change, however the league saw fit to remove us and we have accepted that decision."
