A Massachusetts fifth-grade teacher who held a “mock slave auction” and used racial slurs in a classroom has been placed on paid administrative leave, the district’s superintendent said.
The teacher, who has not been publicly identified, organized the mock auction in January during a history class on the economics of the Southern Colonies, the superintendent of Northborough and Southborough public schools said , Gregory L. Martineau, in a letter to parents dated May. 29.
During class, the teacher “asked two children sitting at the front of the room, who were of color, to stand up,” Martineau said, and the class discussed physical attributes, including teeth and strength.
In April, the same teacher read a book to the class that was not included in the core curriculum and used a racial slur that did not appear in the book, he said.
“Holding a fake slave auction is unacceptable,” Mr. Martineau wrote, emphasizing that it violated the values of the school district.
He said he learned about the two episodes from his parents on April 24.
Parents of students in the class met with both the teacher and principal, he said, without specifying when. He noted that the day after the meeting, “the educator inappropriately called out the student who had reported that the educator had used racial slurs, which is not acceptable.”
Kathleen A. Valenti, who is listed as principal of Margaret A. Neary School in Southborough, Massachusetts, was also placed on paid administrative leave from May 6 to 16, according to the letter.
More than 65 percent of the school’s students are white and less than 2 percent are black, according to enrollment data.
“Paid administrative leave allows for a thorough and impartial investigation,” said Mr. Martineau. “Currently, the district is engaged in due process with the educator who remains on leave.”
Ms Valenti could not immediately be reached for comment on Sunday. The Massachusetts Teachers Association did not immediately respond to a request for comment Sunday.
Mr. Martineau apologized to the parents and said he was ultimately responsible.
“I recognize that there have been missteps in this process that have further complicated the situation,” he said.
In March, Massachusetts investigators announced they would pursue criminal charges against six teenagers who participated in a “racist online chat” that included a “mock slave auction.”
And in 2022, a North Carolina school board said it would review its code of conduct and disciplinary policies after white middle school students pretended to sell out their Black classmates in a similar mock auction.
News Source : www.nytimes.com
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