Ark. teacher reportedly forced Black student, 5, to clean clogged toilet with hands

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Ashley Murry was shocked when her 5-year-old son reported that his teacher made him pull toilet paper out of a clogged toilet that contained feces. The family spoke out on Tuesday about the incident, per Fox 11.

“This is unacceptable,” said Murry in regards to the Crystal Hill Elementary School teacher’s request. She apparently asked the student to remove the tissue because he had used too much and clogged the toilet.

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“I feel like she needs to be trained, suspended, or terminated or something because that’s unacceptable,” said Murry. “I want my son to be in a safe environment, a good environment.”

The Pulaski County Special School District released a statement on Tuesday saying the incident is being “actively investigating” and the teacher has been placed on leave.

The North Little Rock teacher has since apologized and the young boy has been moved to another class. His grandmother, Tami Murry, said race might have played a part in the situation.

“He is a young black male and this was done to degrade him, belittle him, and it will cause him to have anxiety, he keeps telling everyone what happened!!! I am not stopping until this is handled properly!!!,” read the Facebook post.

“We have to protect our black males but decent and in order!!!!! This woman had the nerve to say she didn’t know why she did it after admitting to it!!!! Lord Jesus, help our teachers and allow only those with no hidden agendas and a love for children to become teachers…I don’t know if it’s racism or pure dislike for him, but something isn’t right!!!!! Please keep up with what is going on with your young children in the classroom…ask them questions daily!!!”

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In the statement released by the school, they claim, “employees across the district work hard every day to create an environment where students feel safe and protected.”

But this isn’t the first time an incident like this has occurred at the school. Another mother claimed her child was asked to fulfill the same task by another teacher.

“This is a common occurrence at this school it seems,” said the mother, of a Crystal Hill Elementary School, who asks to be kept anonymous. “I told them, ‘I pay my taxes so you can have janitors at the school, not kids unclogging toilets.'”

The school says it is investigating this manner as well.

Teachers around the country are under scrutiny for making inappropriate requests, as reported by theGrio.

A ‘Slave letter’ writing activity has sparked outrage at a Mississippi middle school in Lamar County. 

Eight-graders at Purvis Middle School were asked to “pretend like you are a slave working on a Mississippi plantation” and “write a letter to your family back in Africa… describing your life.” 

A screenshot of the history assignment titled “Slave Letter Writing Activity” has been shared across social media, The Daily Beast reports. One bullet point on the exercise tells students: “You may also want to tell about the family you live with/work for and how you pass your time when you aren’t working.”

Lamar County School District Superintendent Dr. Steven Hampton said the goal of the assignment “was to show our students just how horrible slavery was and to gain empathy for what it was like to be a slave.”

We do not discriminate against race. We want to be sensitive to what happened in the past,” Hampton said.

Frank Bunnell, the principal at the mostly-white Purvis Middle School, sent an email to parents in which he apologized for “something like this happening under my watch.”

Bunnell also noted that the screenshot showing one of the slides from a PowerPoint presentation was taken out of context.

“A person could read just the assignment and draw a very unrealistic view of the true tragedies that occurred. That was not intended,” he wrote. “However, intent does not excuse anything. There is no excuse to downplay a practice that (even after abolished) spurs unjust laws, unfair economic practices, inhumane treatment, and suppression of a people.”

Additional reporting by Ny Magee

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