If I’m not mistaken, we actually don’t know what was said, especially what the boy said. It seems like some commentators are speculating, or even concluding, that he mentioned the word “brownies,” and another student thought his use of the word was racist.
What the Philly.com article says is that another student thought the boy’s comment was racist. If that’s the case, possibly his comment was racist, at least to some extent.
Most likely, too, if that’s the case, he didn’t recognize what he was saying.
On the other hand, the other student might have been mistaken.
Without knowing what the comment actually was, and the circumstances (and so far it doesn’t seem like that information has been released), we can’t say that a student simply found the mere use of the word “brownies” racist (which is probably unlikely, since we have to think that just about every third-grader knows very well what a brownie is).
But whatever the case, this should have been a matter dealt with most likely in the classroom by the teacher, or at most by the school and the parents involved.
There’s been no suggestion that anyone believes it was something that needed the involvement of police and child protective services.
Looking at the linked article, this appears to be a snit fit between the police department and the school. The police department said something stupid about what should be brought to its attention, and the school knew it was stupid, but believed the way to show that it was stupid was to obey it to the letter.
Ordinarily, the brownie fuss wouldn’t have even resulted in the principal getting involved let alone this.
Both the school and police department should be sued.
GIRL SCOUTS STILL HAVE BROWNIES!
Some kid made a stupid P.C. remark and the teacher could have said that is not a context for the term that is considered offensive.