There is no room for racism in our schools. Yes, that means racism against white kids too. No child should feel marginalized because of factors that they cannot control.
A Utah elementary school teacher gained notoriety for a viral video where she openly bragged and admitted that she purposely excluded representing white kids in her class. She was subsequently suspended, but the cowardly school district just reinstated her after a halfhearted, forced apology. Imagine if it had been a white teacher talking about excluding black kids!
The unnamed Utah teacher was placed on paid leave weeks after posting a video to social media saying her classroom was “built for nonwhite students” and criticizing “posh white parents.”
Here’s what she said that caused outrage among parents and the community alike. She posted a video of herself talking about her new job at the William Penn Elementary School in Mill Creek, Utah, in August.
“For the first time in my life, I am teaching at a majority white school, and I’m kind of interested to see how students and parents react to my classroom or if they even notice anything about it because it’s built for non-white students,” she said on the social network. “If you look around and you interact with some of the materials I have, you’ll notice there are no white kids represented.”
Meanwhile, the Granite School District released a statement to the media saying that the teacher’s comments “are very disconcerting and she has been placed on leave while the district investigates the matter.”
“It would be in violation of our district policies and state board rule to teach anything other than the approved curriculum and standards or to discriminate against any student,” the statement reads.
“As soon as our investigation is complete, we anticipate taking appropriate corrective action. We know that our role as educators is to support parents and the families we serve and we value our parents and their engagement in our schools and classrooms.”
“When woke, white people become the racist. She shouldn’t be allowed within 500 [yards] of any school, let alone teach at one. Wow. Sick of these idiots,” Brock Fetter wrote on the Granite School District Parents Facebook group.
Why is it necessary to make a point to exclude white kids? How about just being inclusive of everyone and building your classroom in the best possible way to enable you to teach your lesson plans? Further, where was the school administration, and why wasn’t this teacher vetted more closely for her racist views before being hired?
Whether there were legal, or policy violations should not matter. The optics and intention of the situation should have warranted immediate termination, not a month-long paid vacation.
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