BRATTLEBORO — The principal of a former student on probation for his role in a racially charged altercation at the Brattleboro Transportation Center last year says the youth broadcast a public message for no reason other than apologizing to the community for his actions.
Larry C. Pratt, 18, of Guilford "knows he made some serious mistakes and I think genuinely wants to atone for them," Brattleboro Union High School Principal Jim Day said of Pratt's apology, recorded Feb. 18 and broadcast two days later during school hours on Brattleboro Community Television's Channel 10.
In his appearance on BCTV with Day, Pratt offered his "sincere apology," ostensibly for his association with a group of students who called themselves the Nigger Hanging Redneck Association (NHRA).
Pratt pleaded guilty in November to charges of stalking with a deadly weapon, disorderly conduct, giving false information to a law enforcement officer, and reckless endangerment as a result of a confrontation in the parking garage last spring with a group that included several young people of color. One of the conditions of his two-year probation requires him to "speak to a group or assembly approved by his probation officer about the events of his case," Windham County State's Attorney Tracy K. Shriver said in January
"I asked his probation officer if an address to our students would meet that test. There has been no confirmation of that or response to my question in more than a month," Day said.
That ambiguity, Day said, points to Pratt's sincerity. "Larry doesn't care if it meets that test or not," his former principal said. "He just wants to do this because it is important to him."
In his statement to the community, Pratt declared that he is "not a racist," and said that every day since the incident "I think about what a stupid thought this was."
"I'd really like to just be able to walk down the streets or down the halls and see people the same and have people greet me as well as I greet them, and I know it's going to be difficult, but I'm willing to take the challenge," Pratt said.
Pratt, who has been expelled from BUHS this year and is participating in off-site tutoring provided by the district, said he eventually wanted to return to school.
"I know it's going to be difficult, but I'm willing to take the challenge," he said.
Mixed reaction
The message was shown during "advisory," a designated daily time where small groups of students in different grades meet with a designated adult advisor.
Day said he asked faculty and staff to discuss Pratt's statement with their advisees after the broadcast. That afternoon, flipping through a sheaf of e-mails and memos, the principal characterized the response as mixed.
While one teacher quoted advisees as saying, "I feel sorry for him," "I feel his apology was sincere," and other universally positive responses in that classroom, Day characterized that group's reaction as atypical.
Many students, Day said, were ambivalent or skeptical about Pratt's sincerity, and a very few expressed their conviction that Pratt's reenrollment at BUHS would put him at risk of physical danger.
A number of students were perplexed by or reacted skeptically to Day's appearing side by side with Pratt on the video.
The principal said he did so simply to help Pratt get his message across. "Larry is not a student used to being on TV," Day said. "This was tough for him. He is generally not a public speaker."
Day said that as he listened to Pratt's statements he tried to ask follow-up questions so that Pratt would not forget some of the things I knew he wanted to say, a gesture that struck some students as inappropriate. "It sounded like Mr. Day was 'feeding him'," one student said.
"A number of students were not willing to believe that someone has really changed," Day said. "I hope people will be willing to give him a chance."