A middle school teacher has been put on administrative leave after a video of her hurling racist slurs in the school’s parking lot surfaced.
A parent and a teacher were involved in a fender bender and instead of doing the normal thing of exchanging information and making sure no one was injured in the accident, the teacher went on a racially charged rant.
In the aftermath of this event, the school plans to hosts a training session for both teachers and students.
Hosting a teacher training and in-school lessons for students, “This is as an opportunity to tell them this is not an appropriate way to act within your community or in public. As professionals, we always have to be above that. We have to take the higher stance,” said Dr. McGarry.
ABC 6:
Upper Darby School District’s statement below:
“Upper Darby School District has investigated an incident in which a teacher in one of our middle schools made racially charged remarks to a parent of a student who attends the school. The Principal of Drexel Hill Middle School contacted central office when he was made aware of the exchange. I met with the parent to review and discuss the incident. The parent reported that during morning drop off on Oct. 10, 2019, he and a teacher were involved in a car accident in the parking lot of Drexel Hill Middle School and that the teacher proceeded to make several racial and other derogatory remarks to him. The video of this incident has been posted to Facebook.
We took this report very seriously. As a result of the investigation, the teacher has been placed on administrative leave pending further investigation. We intend to vigorously address this issue.
Upper Darby School District does not condone or tolerate inappropriate conduct or speech associated with hate, racism, discrimination or intolerance of any kind. The deeply troubling comments and actions of this teacher are not indicative of the hundreds of outstanding teachers working in our schools each and every day. We are a District of over 12,500 students in a community of over 82,000 residents from over 60 countries, with over 70 different home languages. We are a community of many cultures and backgrounds, and we value our diversity. It strengthens us. Through the work we are doing around our Deep Equity Initiative, we will continue to challenge assumptions about the potential of the families whose children we serve and continue to increase access, opportunity, inclusion and support for all of our students.
The behavior, language, and treatment of one of our parents are not in keeping with our expectations of our teachers and staff. The comments and actions made by this teacher do not align with our core beliefs of Opportunity, Unity, and Excellence.
We will be working with our District’s Deep Equity Team to develop ways to develop ways to reflect on this incident with staff across the District.”
