A photo that circulated last week on social media, showing students at Riverside Unified’s Martin Luther King High School posing with a swastika and Confederate flag, doesn’t fit with the school district’s values, a senior official said.

In the photo, eight teenagers — some smiling — pose with a swastika and a Confederate flag as at least one flashes what may be a white power hand sign. They are standing in front of a Trump 2020 banner.

“The district’s core mission values are around inclusivity, empathy, compassion and acceptance,” Timothy Walker, Riverside Unified School District’s Assistant Superintendent of Pupil Services, said Monday, Feb. 10. “The image that circulated does not reflect those core values.”

King High School, which is named after the late civil rights leader, has a diverse campus, according to the California Department of Education. Thirty-eight percent of the school’s 3,071 students identify as white, 35.9% as Hispanic or Latino, while Asian and African-American students are each listed at 8.3%. The school thus has almost twice the percentage of white students as attend the average Riverside Unified campus or schools in Riverside County, according to the Department of Education.

The students’ race and ethnicity is unclear in the photo, which shows six boys and two girls.

The image circulated through the King High community last week. On Friday, students got a chance to air their concerns in a forum, Walker said.

In a video posted on Monday, Principal Michael West said the photo — “created away from school but widely distributed to students on our campus” — scared and angered students and adults on campus.

“At this time in our country, the frank reality is that, political and social views are strongly held by individuals,” West said in the video. “Individual views, while people are entitled to them, may be in direct conflict with those of others, our school, and our district values. Teachers and staff, I implore you, join me in devoting time to talk with our students about diversity, tolerance, respect and how to use social media in a positive way.”

According to West, this year the school has created an Equity Committee where staff and students are developing programs and events to improve “racial harmony and respect” on campus, organizing Synergy Days to “help participants recognize and respect each other’s differences but also value and appreciate all of our similarities,” and created a Multi-Cultural Council Leadership Class.