The president of the Chilmark town affairs council is publicly apologizing for an incident at the Chilmark Community Center summer camp involving three children last week.

In an email that went out Monday, council president Jeff Herman said last Thursday two white boys, aged eight and nine, placed a strap around the neck of an African American boy, age eight, who was in their camp group.

“Although there was an abrasion on the boy’s neck left from the strap, thankfully the child was otherwise physically unharmed,” Mr. Herman wrote. He continued: “That said, we are keenly aware that this event was traumatic. I want to make it perfectly clear: such behavior will not be tolerated at the CCC. We will begin right away to take steps to investigate the incident and to make sure that incidents such as this do not happen again, starting with a meeting with the staff this morning.”

Mr. Herman said in the email that he was unable to provide more details, but that the incident is being fully investigated.

“Let me reiterate — we remain committed to providing a safe and nurturing environment for all of your children,” he wrote.

The town affairs council is a nonprofit group that organizes and oversees summertime activities at the Community Center, which is a town-owned building.

At an emergency meeting Tuesday, the Chilmark selectmen reiterated that the matter is under investigation and issued a statement.

“As a community, we abhor violence or discrimination of any kind, ” the statement said in part. It also said: “At this time the CCC is undertaking an investigation . . . based on their long history of running a successful summer program, we have confidence that the investigation will be thorough and fair. Until that investigation is complete, we are not in a position to assess whether this was a safe play issue or a racial issue. We do know that it was unacceptable behavior.

“The town will respond appropriately once we receive the results of the investigation.”