Police said Friday they are investigating a "racially motivated incident" at St. Mark's High School in Milltown.

Delaware State Police spokesman Cpl. Jeff Whitmarsh said a 10th-grade student's mother called police about the Thursday morning incident at the school off Kirkwood Highway in the 2500 block of Pike Creek Road.

The 15-year-old girl had sought and received permission from school administrators to wear a T-shirt depicting the so-called "Jena 6" -- a group of black students initially charged with attempted murder after a schoolyard fight with a white student in Jena, La., Whitmarsh said.

The girl wore the shirt to show support Thursday as people from across the country descended on the town to demonstrate for racially equal justice.

About 9 a.m., the St. Mark's student in the "Jena 6" shirt found a note hanging from her locker, Whitmarsh said.

"There was no direct threat to the young lady," he said, but the note contained both a racial slur and an obscenity.

Its contents are not being publicly disclosed, he said.

"The victim turned this note over to school administration," Whitmarsh said.

The case is being investigated by Delaware State Police Youth Aid detectives.

Asked whether police had been also been called by school officials, Whitmarsh said they had not.

School officials say the incident was being investigated internally as required under its policy dealing with harassment.

Police went to the school Friday morning to continue the investigation, Whitmarsh said, and "the note was seized for evidentiary purposes."

After The News Journal contacted the Catholic Diocese of Wilmington to ask why the school did not notify police and what school policies require for handling such incidents, St. Mark's Principal Mark John Freund issued a statement.

"St. Mark's is cooperating with the Delaware State Police in investigating an incident involving a note containing a racial slur that was left on a student locker on Thursday, 20 September, 2007," Freund began. "The event was reported by the student to our Discipline Office and St. Mark's responded to insure (sic) that the student was supported and that the student's parents were informed of the incident immediately."

His statement concluded by saying that "St. Mark's and its students stand united as a community against this type of behavior, and appropriate action will be taken when the individual responsible is identified."

Asked to specifically to address the questions of how the school handled the matter and the policies involved, Freund provided another statement.

He said, "The school is investigating this incident as an issue of harassment within the guidelines of our published policies.

"As has been stated by the Delaware State Police and reported by The News Journal, 'There was no direct threat to the young lady,' " he said.

"We have followed and continue to follow our policies in dealing with an issue of harassment," said Freund.

The school's policies require that such incidents be reported to a dean or assistant principal, who "will promptly and thoroughly investigate the complaint while maintaining as high a level of confidentiality as possible."

"Any student who is found, after a full investigation, to have engaged in harassment in violation of this policy will be subject to appropriate disciplinary action including the assignment of demerits, detention, suspension, and, in extreme cases, a meeting with the Review Board to determine whether or not sufficient grounds exist for the student to not be dismissed from St. Mark's," the policy says.

Freund also said that the student who found the note on her locker "is in school and has the full support of the St. Mark's community."

Police ask anyone with information about the incident to call Delaware Crime Stoppers, which accepts tips anonymously at (800) TIP-3333, or detectives at Troop 2 in Glasgow at 834-2620, ext. 225.