Teacher fired after telling elementary school student, “You’re lucky I’m not making you pick cotton”
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An Oregon school teacher has been fired after making a racist remark to an 11-year-old biracial student.
Jasmyn Spencer was sitting with friends eating lunch at Linwood Elementary School in Milwaukie, Ore., when a teacher berated her with hateful remarks for their behavior.
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“The teacher was like, you’re lucky I’m not making you pick cotton and clean my house and stuff like that,” said Jasmyn. “It made my feel really sad and targeted.”
Outraged, Jasmyn’s mother Syreeta Spencer met with the principal after her daughter reported what happened when she got home from school, KGW8 reports.
“If she were to curse at the kids or yell at them, that’s forgivable and we can work past that,” said Spencer. “To say something about picking cotton and cleaning and painting houses, that’s deeper than that and it’s not something that just slips out.”
The school board addressed the situation in a statement:
“We know and understand that the impact of words spoken can be hurtful for our students and that was the case in this situation,” read part of the letter. “I deeply regret this impact and will continue to work with our students and school community to make sure they are heard and feel supported. Our school and the school district are committed to an inclusive environment that honors each student’s identity and provides safety, respect and care in each of our spaces.”
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After the teacher was fired the school updated their statement and reads in part:
“Dear families of our Linwood Elementary School Community:
I wanted to update you on the situation that occurred last week in our school community. We have concluded our investigation about the inappropriate racialized comments by a staff member to students. The employee involved is no longer employed within the North Clackamas School District.”
We guess this former teacher learned a valuable lesson.
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