The Jackson County School Board has taken action against a teacher who apparently made racial commentary on presidential candidate Barack Obama.According to parents and students in Greg Howard's seventh-grade social studies class, Howard on Friday, Sept. 26 asked the class a question regarding Obama's call for change, and proceeded to write out what the letters C-H-A-N-G-E stood for.
"She told me that he wrote on the board 'Can You Help A (expletive) Get Elected, and then laughed about it," said Shelia Christian, a mother of one of Howard's students.
Jackson County Superintendent Danny Sims said that description of this incident was "pretty accurate."
Sims said Howard apparently repeated the action in more than one class, having made the comment in "a couple of periods."
According to a news release from the school board, Howard was suspended with pay on Monday, Sept. 29.
- Log in to post comments
More like this
When I was a post-doc, I once advised a student who definitely needed some remedial language skills help (since then, said student has gone on to be a very successful doctor--I take no credit for the student's success, but I just want to note that this student was very bright). What I learned is…
So here's a bizarre convergence of the controversies surrounding cognitive performance-enhancing strategies and the end-of-grade (EOG) testing stress on teachers and students.
Esther Robards-Forbes reports in yesterday's Charlotte (NC) Observer that a third-grade teacher was arrested for…
Vacation time! While Orac is off in London recharging his circuits and contemplating the linguistic tricks of limericks and jokes or the glory of black holes, he's rerunning some old stuff from his original Blogspot blog. This particular post first appeared on October 19, 2005. Enjoy!
Somehow I…
Last week, Dan Delong, an English teacher at Southwestern High School in Piasa, Illinois was suspended for allowing students to read an article on homosexuality in the animal kingdom. The article in question, "The Gay Animal Kingdom," was written by ScienceBlogger Jonah Lehrer of The Frontal…
What is amazing, to me at least, is this idiot didn't get fired on the spot.
Suspended with pay? A paid vacation? This is 'taking action' against him?
Well, technically that's C-Y-H-A-N-G-E.
Yeah, NeuroTrumpet, I noticed that, too. Why do racists always turn out to be so stupid?
Probably because they think race is so damned important and significant (and that they magically belong to one of the supposedly better ones). Just answered my own question!
He must have just been that eager to share the clever new chain email... Seriously, WTF?
All I can say is, when I was growing up, (male) teachers used to make sexist remarks all the time. The female half of the schoolroom just sat there. I guess they thought there was nothing they could do about it. Or they just accepted it. Or something. I'm really glad times have changed. I'm sorry some people, like that teacher, don't realize that they have.
Anne G
The nature of teacher contracts means that 'on the spot' firings simply don't happen. Even people accused of felonies (child molestation, etc) don't get fired on the spot -- they get suspended and investigated.
Actually, though what Anthony says is correct and probably happened in this case, the story does go on from Sept 29th when he was suspended.
Howard was given a reprimanded and his actions reported to the Florida DOE. On Thursday he was suspended without pay for 10 days, relieved of his coaching duties, and transfered to another program in which there ar no kids. He's also being told to submit a letter of apology to the students and to attend diversity training and so on.
It seems like this could somehow also be construed as a threat against Obama. FSM knows, if it had been some sort of threat against a Repub, the person would have been thrown to the ground and hauled off to jail.
Too bad the kids were so young, maybe if they'd been a bit older he might have heard "Did you come up with that one all by yourself fatty, or did you hear it at last night's Klan meeting?"
I am so discusted at the Racist person and the principal who is giving he a paid VACATION for being a Racist pig. He should not be allowed to teach children. He should have been fired on the spot. All of you parents should get toghether and make sure he will no longer teach at that school.
Kind of reminds me of a photo I saw on failblog.com of a picture of a jerk (presumably at an anti-immigration rally) holding a big sign that read (literally) "Respect Are-Country Speak English!"
It's amazing to me that these people can function in the real world.
Other stories report that he said Come Help A, not Can You Help A. So he's just smart enough to spell CHANGE, expose children to hatred, and get himself a paid vacaction for it.
It's times like this I understand why people take comfort in believing in Hell.
I have zero tolerance for racism of any kind...in any color. I understand this teacher was suspended with pay. So what the school board did to PUNISH this idiot was basically give him a 10 day paid vacation from work. Yea, that'll teach him!
Lets do something about it:
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/remove-racist-florida-teacher-greg-how…
It's for the children by the way, they deserve MORE!