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Billings Public Schools Open Investigation Regarding Middle School Principal's Posts

A generic photo of a school crossing sign.
Rafael Sato/Flickr (CC BY 2.0)
/
Flickr (CC BY 2.0)
A school crossing sign.

Billings Public Schools are opening an investigation into a middle school principal following the possible connection to social media posts a local superintendent calls "appalling."

Superintendent of Billings Public Schools Greg Upham opened an investigation Tuesday into Medicine Creek Middle School's Principal Nikki Hofmann.

He says concerning social media posts were shared by an account potentially attached to Hofmann.

The posts disparaged Muslims, the Black Lives Matter movement and prominent Democratic party figures. One post with the image of a baby pig reads "Please Share Me I Offend Muslims."

"The information that was shared was quite appalling," Upham said.

In a live Facebook video stream this week, Superintendent Upham was emotional and referenced his background as an enrolled member of Blackfeet nation.

"I care deeply about our kids, all of our kids," Upham said. 

Upham said the investigation will be conducted internally by the director of the Billings Public Schools IT Department.

"Anytime we do an investigation ,it's to get all of the factual information and then be able to evaluate next steps," Upham said.

Kaitlyn Nicholas covers tribal news in Montana.