Teacher misspells word on school list, changes ‘bigger’ to ‘n*****’
A Florida teacher accidentally hit the letter "n" instead of "b" on her keyboard and sent out an assignment with a racial slur in it.
A Florida teacher accidentally hit the letter "n" instead of "b" on her keyboard and sent out an assignment with a racial slur in it...
A Florida teacher accidentally hit the letter “n” instead of “b” on her keyboard and sent out an assignment with a racial slur in it.
On Monday, a Hamilton Elementary School teacher sent home a list of spelling words, one of which was supposed to be the word “bigger.” Instead, that word was on the sheet as “n****r.”
Terry Day told WESH 2 that she was “very offended” when she saw the spelling list.
“My daughter said to me, she said, ‘I know that word and I know what that word means, but is this supposed to be on my paper?'” Day said.
The school and teacher respond
A school spokesman, Michael Lawrence, released a statement on the matter, saying, “The district is aware of the unintentional and unfortunate mistake regarding the typo on the spelling words worksheet. The teacher involved has taught at Hamilton Elementary for many years and is extremely remorseful about the situation. The school has already fixed and updated the spelling words list and redistributed to the students in that particular class. In addition, a memo has gone home with students sincerely apologizing for the error.”
But a memo sent out by the teacher to correct the spelling error doesn’t mention the racial slur at all.
“Dear Parents: Please be advised there was a misspelled word on the blue spelling list I sent home yesterday. Please throw the blue list away and refer to this list for the next six weeks. I apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. Please contact me if you have any concerns,” the memo reads.
The fact that the teacher didn’t mention the slur is what has Day up in arms.
“‘Inconvenience’ means sorry for the bother. So, I mean, it was not apologetic, it was not ‘sorry.’ Even when I met with her in person, she wasn’t sorry, wasn’t apologetic, like, ‘Oh my God, I’m so sorry. I would have removed this.’ No! It wasn’t like that,” Day said.
Still, Day said that she didn’t want the teacher punished. Her daughter legitimately likes the class, and Day believes it was an honest mistake. However, she feels that the students, as well as their parents, deserve an apology.
The school district said that it was unlikely the teacher would be punished for the typo.
