Concord School Sorry For 'Racist' Lunch Menu

Officials at a Northern California private school have issued an apology after a lunch menu to celebrate Black History Month angered parents and students.

Some students at Carondelet High School for Girls in Concord wanted to come up with ways to mark the occasion at lunchtime on Friday.

But when the Catholic school announced a menu of fried chicken, cornbread and watermelon, other students and parents became offended.

KNTV-TV reported that school officials held an assembly on Wednesday to discuss the issue and also sent a letter apologising to parents.

"I'd like to apologise for the announcement and any hurt this caused students, parents or community members," school principal Nancy Libby wrote in the letter.

"Please know that at no time at Carondelet do we wish to perpetrate racial stereotypes."

A school spokeswoman said there was a communications breakdown and the menu was planned and publicised without administrative knowledge or permission.

University of San Francisco professor James Taylor said he could understand why some parents and students were offended by the menu.

He told KNTV: "Chicken, watermelon, collard greens - these stereotypes of black Southern culture that come from the same place where the N-word comes from."

Ms Libby told parents in the letter that the items had been taken off the menu, and that the school would hold a diversity assembly.

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