Students chant 'white power' during Class

BROOMFIELD – It started with a simple question and ended with students chanting "white power" in a classroom.

It happened Tuesday in a classroom at Holy Family High School, the Catholic school that sits at the corner of 144th Avenue and Sheridan Boulevard in Broomfield.

The classroom discussion started with the question: Why do students need to learn Spanish?

According to the Archdiocese of Denver, the conversation soon became about immigration and it turned ugly.

"It became a heated discussion and some rhetoric was used that was inappropriate for the classroom," said Jeanette DeMelo, spokesperson for the Archdiocese of Denver.

At least one e-mail sent to 9NEWS said that students started a chant of "white power" and some said that all Mexicans should go back to Mexico.

"Immigration is an explosive topic right now. It seeped into the classroom," she said.

The Archdiocese says they did not expect something like this to happen in their system, which has embraced its Hispanic students. Archbishop Charles Chaput has come forward several times in support of the Mexican community.

"I think the teacher was a little bit unprepared for that type of discussion in a language classroom," said DeMelo.

School leaders at Holy Family say their school is all about inclusiveness. It is in the school's motto and in the spirit of their teachings.

"Holy Family is precisely what its name is: a family. And they've always prided themselves on the diversity," said DeMelo.

Holy Family has a large Hispanic population and the archdiocese wants to make sure everyone is comfortable going to school.

"We are seeing the Hispanic population trust in the Catholic school system and in the diversity that exists there," said DeMelo.

The archdiocese says the four students who instigated the whole thing have been talked to and supposedly are remorseful. The Spanish teacher also met with administrators.

It is not not clear if any disciplinary action has been taken against anyone involved.

An e-mail sent to 9NEWS states the Hispanic students in the class at the time asked to leave, but were forced to stay in the classroom.