EDMONTON -- An Edmonton woman and her son have received an apology from the Catholic school board months after he was told durags weren't allowed at school as a symbol of possible gang affiliation.
The undated apology Una and Emmell Momolu received was posted to Twitter Wednesday night by Bashir Mohamed, who helped the family share their story publicly.
"We should have made more effort to interpret and resolve Ms. Momolu's concerns at that time. We recognize that it is inappropriate to associate durags with gang affiliation without there being any other indication of gang affiliation," it reads in part.
"We have learned from this experience; it will continue to inform the professional development of our staff and we will strive to do better in the future."
In the statement, the board writes the division completed an internal investigation and will be making several changes in the fall, including giving administrators de-escalation training and reviewing its dress code policy to make it more culturally inclusive.
Edmonton Catholic School Division added it welcomes input from the community, including Momolu.
According to the mother, her Grade 6 son was asked last year to remove the headwear by staff at Christ the King School.
While the school initially reiterated it had a no-headwear policy, Momolu called the equating of durags to gang activity racial profiling.
After a tense meeting with the school's principal, she was banned from Christ the King grounds for the rest of the academic year.
- READ MORE: Heated meeting over black student's durag leads to mother being banned from school grounds
- READ MORE: School district apologizes, partly lifts mother's ban after dispute over black student's durag
ECSD apologized and partially lifted the ban on Momolu, allowing her to attend after-school activities and pick-ups and drop-offs, in December, though she responded at the time that their statement was inadequate.
Her son was enrolled in a different Catholic school.
