Parents in small New England town reeling after fifth-grader blurts racial slur found in school dictionary

By LAUREN ACTON-TAYLOR, US NEWS REPORTER Published: 21:31, 14 June 2026 | Updated: 21:42, 14 June 2026 Massachusetts parents are reeling after a fifth-grader discovered a racial slur in a school dictionary.  An outdated French-English dictionary at Tucker Elementary School in Milton was discovered to contain the N-word after a student read the word aloud in a French classroom.  The incident that stirred the community earlier this month saw parents looking for better from the school, which has already been caught up in racial controversy.  'To me, it's not about this incident. It's about the pattern of incidents,' Somaneh Diemé, a parent who created a website, Milton Reckoning, seeking to address the incidents at Tucker, told the Boston Globe.  'How do we respond to it and how do we protect each other?'  The site is backed by many parents in the school district who are demanding that the pattern of racial incidents be brought to an end and that accountability be taken if they should happen.  'It's unacceptable for this to be a rite of passage for Black students in Milton or anywhere,' Vernée Wilkinson, another Tucker parent, told the outlet.  'More proactive measures need to be put into place.' An outdated French-English dictionary at Tucker Elementary School in Milton was discovered to contain the N-word after a student read the word aloud in a French classroom Milton's interim Superintendent John Phelan said that the district is working with parents and families to address the concerns raised and agreed to determine a plan of action Parents are now seeking eight demands to be met in response to the slew of incidents, including formal and transparent racial incident response protocol, anti-racism training for staff and mandatory anti-racism education for white students and their families Last week on Wednesday, parents arrived to pick up their children from the school wearing red shirts in an effort to show solidarity with Black students. 'For fifth-graders this will be one of the last memories they will leave Tucker with,' Diemé said. 'We just want to support the kids, show them we care and we are united.' Milton's interim Superintendent John Phelan told the Globe that the district is working with parents and families to address the concerns raised and agreed to determine a plan of action.  'We acknowledge that there is clearly more work to be done to ensure that every child feels safe, welcome and supported, and to ensure that any racist behavior or language will be addressed swiftly and thoroughly,' he said.  Phelan added that an investigation determined that staff had adhered to policies and procedures, though he told the outlet that district policies may be revised in response to the incident.  According to Phelan, the dictionary was removed from the classroom and a review of the other books within the school has been launched.  Parents, however, were frustrated by the schools response. According to the Globe, Tucker officials initially only notified parents of students within the French immersion program.  Lauren Brown, another Tucker parent, said wider communication would have been helpful, as her child, who is Black, is not in the program and she was left to rely on second-hand recounts of the issue.  According to Phelan, the dictionary was removed from the classroom and a review of the other books within the school has been launched 'The cost of staying silent is that you now have eroded trust,' Brown told the Globe. 'There's no transparency.' The latest incident follows what parents say is a long-standing history within the school district, including backlash that stemmed from a Milton middle school teacher's suspension for discussing police racism following the killing of George Floyd.  At Pierce Middle school, students walked out in 2021 after a student said a racial slur in an online video, and then in 2023 the school district was hit with a discrimination lawsuit over a math program aimed at students of marginalized racial groups, the outlet reported.  Parents are now seeking eight demands to be met in response to the slew of incidents, including formal and transparent racial incident response protocol, anti-racism training for staff and mandatory anti-racism education for white students and their families, the Milton Reckoning site stated.  'This is not a Black problem,' the website states.  'The children who appear to need support are the White children who, in many cases, have not been taught the history, weight and consequence of racist language and behavior.'   The Daily Mail reached out to Tucker Elementary School, Milton Public Schools and the Tucker Elementary PTO for comment. 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