Portfolio Artifact #2

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Portfolio Artifact #2: Teachers’ Rights & Responsibilities

EDU 210: Nevada School Law

Professor Warby

Cassidy Hart

1/28/2018
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Abstract

School teacher, Ann Griffin has been accused of making the comment that she

hates all black people. Below, I have provided four court cases similar to hers in which I can

accurately decide what her consequence will be for her comment, if any. For the first two court

cases that are discussed, the teachers are fired as a consequence of their racist comments. For the

last two court cases that are discussed the teachers are able to return back to work and continue

on teaching despite the racist comments that were made. Using these four court cases as previous

examples, I will better be able to decide If Ann does or does not deserve a punishment, and if so,

what it will be.

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A white tenured teacher, Ann Griffin has recently been accused of saying that she “hated

all black folks.” It is said that she was in a heated conversation with Freddie Watts, principal, and

Jimmy Brothers, assistant principal, who are both African-American administrators. They are in

a predominantly black high school. When others began hearing about what Ann Griffin had said,

there were negative reactions from both black and white colleagues. Freddie Watts, the principal

is concerned about Ann Griffin’s ability to treat her students fair and equal. Because of this, he

recommended her to be dismissed.

Racist comments made by school teachers will not be tolerated. School teachers are

responsible for teaching a large diversity of students, and they need to give all students respect.

Teachers who make racist comments like Ann Griffin will have consequences. For example, In

Ohio in 2014, a suburban Cincinnati teacher, accused of making a racist comment lost his job. A

student expressed to the teacher, his desire to follow in the footsteps of President Barack Obama,

and it is said that the teacher replied, "We do not need another black president (Clark, par2,

2014)." Ann Griffin, and this teacher are both similar in that they both made racist comments.

Although teachers have freedom of his opinion and speech, consequences will arise from

discriminating due to one’s color. These comments will not be tolerated, as the teacher from

Ohio did get fired.

A second example of how we will not tolerate racial comments from teachers was from a

second-grade teacher in Mississippi in 2017. This teacher did not even make the racial comment

in a school setting; rather it was on a Facebook post (Miller, 2017). She posted on Facebook; “If

blacks in this country are so offended, no one is forcing them to stay here, why don’t they pack

up and move back to Africa where they will have to work for a living. I am sure our government

will pay for it! We pay for everything else (Miller, par3, 2017).” This teacher was not even in a
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school setting, yet she still was fired because of the offensive and racial comment, which she

made. It is a teacher’s responsibility to not judge others based on the color of their skin, as this

can cause multiple problems in the classroom

Due to lack of information or proof, teachers should not lose their job based off of one

racial comment that could have been false. In the year of 2014, the Camden County Board of

Education has came to the decision that a teacher accused of making racist statements will

indeed keep her job. Two students came forward and confessed that Mrs. Ramsey said to the

class that if she only had ten days to live, she would kill all back people (Marks, 2014). For two

weeks this teacher was suspended, but after that period of time she was allowed back into the

classroom to teach. The teacher denied making such comments. “Based on the findings from the

investigation by Camden County schools, there was not enough evidence to confirm this

allegation (Marks, 2014, par5). Because there was not enough evidence, Mrs. Ramsey was

allowed to continue with her job.

In 2017, a New Jersey teacher returned to work after making a racist comment. After a

group of students were whispering in Spanish, this teacher told the class, “brave men and women

are not fighting for your right to speak Spanish — they’re fighting for your right to speak

American (Stevens, 2017, par8).” There was plenty of evidence in this case, yet the teacher still

kept her job. It is said that the teacher did indeed issue a school wide apology. Because this

teacher apologized for what she had said to the entire school, it was decided that she would not

be fired (Stevens, 2017). This teacher could have said something that she really did not mean, in

the heat of the moment. Just as Ann Griffin made her statement that she, “hates all black people”

in the heat of the moment, although she may not actually mean it.
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Based on the cases and the information that I have presented, I believe that teacher Ann

Griffin, should indeed be fired from her job. A job as a teacher is to teach students how to be

fair, and non-judgmental, and by Ann making the comment that she did she is doing just the

opposite of that. I understand that people can say things that they do not mean when they are in a

heated argument, but it still does not make it acceptable and there should still be consequences in

place.. Teachers have to represent themselves in and out of school, with or without their students

around. Although Ann was not speaking directly to her students when she made this comment,

the comment still impacts them.

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References

Clark, M. D. (2014, April 18). Ohio teacher loses job for racist comment. Retrieved January 26,

2018, from https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/04/18/teacher-racism-

fired/7876581/

Marks, J. (2014, November 14). Teacher accused of racist remarks will keep her job. Retrieved

January 24, 2018, from http://wavy.com/2014/11/13/teacher-accused-of-racist-remarks-

will-keep-her-job/

Miller, J. R. (2017, September 20). 'Move back to Africa': Teacher fired for racist Facebook post.

Retrieved January 24, 2018, from https://nypost.com/2017/09/20/move-back-to-africa-

teacher-fired-for-racist-facebook-post/

Stevens, M. (2017, October 24). New Jersey Teacher Who Told Students to 'Speak American'

Returns to School. Retrieved January 26, 2018, from

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/24/nyregion/speak-american-high-school.html