White teachers behind black history prank to be transferred
LOS ANGELES (AP) - Three Los Angeles school teachers who were suspended for honoring O.J. Simpson, Dennis Rodman and RuPaul in a Black History Month parade will be transferred...
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Three Los Angeles school teachers who were suspended for honoring O.J. Simpson, Dennis Rodman and RuPaul in a Black History Month parade will be transferred to new schools, the district superintendent said Thursday.
School District Superintendent Ramon Cortines told the Los Angeles Times the teachers will not return to Wadsworth Avenue Elementary School in South Los Angeles after they gave portraits of the three controversial figures to children to carry in the parade last month.
The choice of the three figures caused a protest by civil rights leaders, who said the teachers were making a mockery of Black History Month.
“I think it was an exercise of very poor judgment,” Cortines told The Times. “That lack of judgment was not acceptable. These were not novice teachers.”
The teachers, all white men who teach first, second and fourth grades, were suspended for three days and reassigned to administrative offices. They will remain there until posts at new schools are found, Cortines said.
Principal Lorraine Abner issued a letter of apology to parents and the community.
She had been absent on the day of the parade and had not seen additions teachers had written onto a 1985 list of approved black role models, including Simpson, the former NFL star who was acquitted of murder but subsequently convicted of robbery; Rodman, a controversial ex-NBA player, and RuPaul, a drag queen.
Abner said the school will work with the district’s Office of Human Relations, Diversity and Equity to learn from the incident.
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