Analy High School has changed its policy regarding how it monitors what students can present at rallies and assemblies after a student wore blackface makeup at a recent Homecoming assembly.

The student darkened his face to portray Kanye West while his partner was supposed to be Taylor Swift, according to Analy Principal Chris Heller. The students were doing a parody of the now-famous mic-grabbing stunt West did at Mtv Video Awards ceremony in takeoff on Homecoming court voting.

“It looked like it was black shoe polish probably,” Heller said.

Heller spoke with the student who wore the makeup as well as his peers in the leadership class that put on the rally. “We handled the situation in house,” he said.

Heller said from now on, skits must be run by a teacher or administrator before being presented to the school.

“There haven’t really been a whole lot of checks and balances on this type of situation,” he said.

Heller said no parents or students have complained to him about the blackface makeup, but one teacher who is apparently also a parent of an Analy student did say the skit was cause for concern.

I received a letter in the mail from someone who identified themselves as an Analy parent and person of color, saying that their child was hurt by the skit but was too embarrassed to say anything.

The incident opened the door to discussing race and racial stereotypes with many students who may not have experienced such issues before, Heller said.

“We kind of talked about the judgment side of it,” he said. “You are also talking about a school that is almost 80 percent white, so I’m not sure they understand what it’s like.”

According to Heller, the student who acted as West said “what do we do in the future if we are going to portray president Obama?”

“Some people said the same thing about how else do you portray a character to make it believable, but others said ‘We are the leadership group…(and should act) so nobody feels disrespected,” Heller said. “They actually had a really positive discussion when it was all said and done.”

Heller said in the future, all skit concepts will be run through a teacher or administrator.

“It hadn’t been done in the past, students have been given a lot of (freedom),” he said. “When it happens, you have to look at what you do.”