What to do if you suspect that a teacher is racist?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Start a school wide petition. Accuse the teacher of being a racist. If several parents and students sign the petition that will clearly prove your suspicions of racism are correct. Take. The petition to the principal and demand this racist teacher be immediately terminated. If the principal fails to comply with your community supported demands your next step should be to take it to the School Board.

You have the evidence and the teacher will have an opportunity to prove they are not racist.

This is a joke right?
You do realize this is not a way to solve any problem of any kind?

No, why do you say that? Children are very intuitive. They are especially intuitive when several agree that a teacher is racist or another child is a bad person.

LOL!
This has to be a joke, I am being punked.
I have been black all my life, I have been called a "N*****" more times than I can count, but there is no time where I have ever thought that the way to "prove" that someone was racist was to start a petition.
That is the height of stupidity and ineffectiveness.

No, not at all. Share your concerns with your child. Ask them if this teacher treats certain children better than others. Ask if some children seem to receive better grades than others. Ask if the teacher is nicer to white students than black children. Have your child ask other minority students the same questions. If the answer is yes then you'll have all the proof you'll need to have this racist teacher terminated. We need to root out and eliminate this subtle but pervasive racism in our schools.

Curious; how do you know it's minority children being targeted?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Question: if you accuse someone of being racist, can they sue you?

Dude that is a totally open ended question that leaves all kinds of room for interpretation...

did you put the accusation in a letter?
what was the wording of the accusation ... the list goes on

PP who asked the question here. I'm European, and don't know how it works in this country (in Europe many people are OPENLY racist). Just curious: if a group of parents were to go to the principal with written accusations against this teacher behaving differently towards students of different races in similar types of situations - is the word "racist" a highly charged word that can make the teacher sue because it damages her reputation? Will euphemisms help keep everyone focus on the actions of the teacher?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Question: if you accuse someone of being racist, can they sue you?

Dude that is a totally open ended question that leaves all kinds of room for interpretation...

did you put the accusation in a letter?
what was the wording of the accusation ... the list goes on

PP who asked the question here. I'm European, and don't know how it works in this country (in Europe many people are OPENLY racist). Just curious: if a group of parents were to go to the principal with written accusations against this teacher behaving differently towards students of different races in similar types of situations - is the word "racist" a highly charged word that can make the teacher sue because it damages her reputation? Will euphemisms help keep everyone focus on the actions of the teacher?

bottom line: if you are going to accuse anyone of anything you need to tread carefully in terms of how you do it, how you say it, the evidence that you present.
I cannot just say Miss Witchy-Poo is a pedophile.
I better have some pretty damning evidence.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Start a school wide petition. Accuse the teacher of being a racist. If several parents and students sign the petition that will clearly prove your suspicions of racism are correct. Take. The petition to the principal and demand this racist teacher be immediately terminated. If the principal fails to comply with your community supported demands your next step should be to take it to the School Board.

You have the evidence and the teacher will have an opportunity to prove they are not racist.

No! The 2013 way to do it is to open a Facebook page with the teachers name on it and collect as many 'likes" as you can. That will prove it.

[Anonymous]

Tips for handling situations like abuse, misconduct, or lack of professionalism in school.

1. Decide what your objective is. Fire the teacher? Have your kid in a different class? Vent?

2. Be specific and use firsthand experience when raising concerns to the counselor or principal. For example, "my child has been expressing anxiety about the treatment of a friend by a teacher. She mentioned it after the field trip last week." Actual incidents or dates should get their attention.

3. Use edu-speak that mirrors wording of teacher performance reviews. Focus comments on things like concerns about the potential impact of "the social-emotional environment of the classroom" on academic achievement. Give the counselor or principal the ammunition to document the issue in teacher's file. They can't put "mixed reputation" on a performance review or disciplinary notice. It's likely the administrators are looking for evidence
against this person.

Do NOT ask your child loaded questions like "Honey, do you think the teacher is mean to Billy?" It puts too much pressure on them to judge the person you send them to everyday.

Encourage them to tell you how they feel in school, what they do or don't like, if they're ever confused or concerned about things they hear or see, etc. Whatever is age appropriate to keep lines of communication open.

Being racist, homophobic, xenophobic, misogynistic, or any other kind of bigot isn't a crime. Teachers can think or feel whatever they want. (You'd be surprised by some of them.)

But acting on their biases, behaving inappropriately or teaching ineffectively are what can get a teacher fired or reassigned.

It sucks that kids have to deal with a--holes posing as educators.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ok -- all joking aside -- the troll who keeps posting asinine ways to 'root out' a racist teacher is doing a real disservice to those of us who have personally had to deal with or have kids who have had to deal with real racism in school (and elsewhere) and had to figure out how to address it and eradicate it.

It's better to get it out in the open. If the teacher is a racist you need to call him/ her out on it. You know they are racist and your children know they are racist, so there is no need to hide it or whisper about it. Confront the problem head on. Show some guts!!! It must be awful to go to school everyday and to be hated by teachers because of your race. Report it to the principal and the PTA tomorrow!!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Tips for handling situations like abuse, misconduct, or lack of professionalism in school.

1. Decide what your objective is. Fire the teacher? Have your kid in a different class? Vent?

2. Be specific and use firsthand experience when raising concerns to the counselor or principal. For example, "my child has been expressing anxiety about the treatment of a friend by a teacher. She mentioned it after the field trip last week." Actual incidents or dates should get their attention.

3. Use edu-speak that mirrors wording of teacher performance reviews. Focus comments on things like concerns about the potential impact of "the social-emotional environment of the classroom" on academic achievement. Give the counselor or principal the ammunition to document the issue in teacher's file. They can't put "mixed reputation" on a performance review or disciplinary notice. It's likely the administrators are looking for evidence
against this person.

Do NOT ask your child loaded questions like "Honey, do you think the teacher is mean to Billy?" It puts too much pressure on them to judge the person you send them to everyday.

Encourage them to tell you how they feel in school, what they do or don't like, if they're ever confused or concerned about things they hear or see, etc. Whatever is age appropriate to keep lines of communication open.

Being racist, homophobic, xenophobic, misogynistic, or any other kind of bigot isn't a crime. Teachers can think or feel whatever they want. (You'd be surprised by some of them.)

But acting on their biases, behaving inappropriately or teaching ineffectively are what can get a teacher fired or reassigned.

It sucks that kids have to deal with a--holes posing as educators.

+1

[Anonymous]

"You know they are racist and your children know they are racist, so "

You don't KNOW that is what is happening! Is the only thing these groups of kids have in common their race? could it be that 1 set are girls mostly and the other are mostly boys? could it be that maybe the girls are "better behaved" (defined as listening more often & being less wiggley - i.e. easier to manage) than the boys? I don't think it was at all clear from OP's post that the single common thread in the "favored" group vs. the "unfavored" group is their skin color.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Start a school wide petition. Accuse the teacher of being a racist. If several parents and students sign the petition that will clearly prove your suspicions of racism are correct. Take. The petition to the principal and demand this racist teacher be immediately terminated. If the principal fails to comply with your community supported demands your next step should be to take it to the School Board.

You have the evidence and the teacher will have an opportunity to prove they are not racist.

This is a joke right?
You do realize this is not a way to solve any problem of any kind?

No, why do you say that? Children are very intuitive. They are especially intuitive when several agree that a teacher is racist or another child is a bad person.

LOL!
This has to be a joke, I am being punked.
I have been black all my life, I have been called a "N*****" more times than I can count, but there is no time where I have ever thought that the way to "prove" that someone was racist was to start a petition.
That is the height of stupidity and ineffectiveness.

No, not at all. Share your concerns with your child. Ask them if this teacher treats certain children better than others. Ask if some children seem to receive better grades than others. Ask if the teacher is nicer to white students than black children. Have your child ask other minority students the same questions. If the answer is yes then you'll have all the proof you'll need to have this racist teacher terminated. We need to root out and eliminate this subtle but pervasive racism in our schools.

Curious; how do you know it's minority children being targeted?

White people are the majority, so it's impossible for black people to be racist.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:White people are the majority, so it's impossible for black people to be racist.

That's a massive oversimplification that conflates structural racism with individual action.

If a black teacher has absorbed the racist stereotypes that abound in our country and has lower expectations for the black children in his/her classroom, that's racism, regardless of the teacher's ethnicity.

[Anonymous]

People please stop feeding the troll

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Tips for handling situations like abuse, misconduct, or lack of professionalism in school.

1. Decide what your objective is. Fire the teacher? Have your kid in a different class? Vent?

2. Be specific and use firsthand experience when raising concerns to the counselor or principal. For example, "my child has been expressing anxiety about the treatment of a friend by a teacher. She mentioned it after the field trip last week." Actual incidents or dates should get their attention.

3. Use edu-speak that mirrors wording of teacher performance reviews. Focus comments on things like concerns about the potential impact of "the social-emotional environment of the classroom" on academic achievement. Give the counselor or principal the ammunition to document the issue in teacher's file. They can't put "mixed reputation" on a performance review or disciplinary notice. It's likely the administrators are looking for evidence
against this person.

Do NOT ask your child loaded questions like "Honey, do you think the teacher is mean to Billy?" It puts too much pressure on them to judge the person you send them to everyday.

Encourage them to tell you how they feel in school, what they do or don't like, if they're ever confused or concerned about things they hear or see, etc. Whatever is age appropriate to keep lines of communication open.

Being racist, homophobic, xenophobic, misogynistic, or any other kind of bigot isn't a crime. Teachers can think or feel whatever they want. (You'd be surprised by some of them.)

But acting on their biases, behaving inappropriately or teaching ineffectively are what can get a teacher fired or reassigned.

It sucks that kids have to deal with a--holes posing as educators.

Another +1.

Unless you have written or video proof of the teacher saying something crazy you cannot go in there with accusations like that. IF the teacher is applying unequal treatment, it is possible he/she doesn't realize that it is happening. There could be prejudice and it could be subconscious.

I'm with PP about focusing on the impact and the specific actions that are making the teaching ineffective. Chances are whatever the behavior you believe is exhibited toward one group is not effective teaching methods for any group. Have documentation of what has happened with dates etc for concerns and emphasis should be on additional support/training for the teacher. If you go in with accusations and trying to fire people, everyone will be on the defensive. If with support and training things don't improve or the school completely blows off valid concerns, I think it is fair to escalate the issue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Start a school wide petition. Accuse the teacher of being a racist. If several parents and students sign the petition that will clearly prove your suspicions of racism are correct. Take. The petition to the principal and demand this racist teacher be immediately terminated. If the principal fails to comply with your community supported demands your next step should be to take it to the School Board.

You have the evidence and the teacher will have an opportunity to prove they are not racist.

1. This has to be a joke.
2. If not, that word "prove" doesn't mean whan you think it means.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Start a school wide petition. Accuse the teacher of being a racist. If several parents and students sign the petition that will clearly prove your suspicions of racism are correct. Take. The petition to the principal and demand this racist teacher be immediately terminated. If the principal fails to comply with your community supported demands your next step should be to take it to the School Board.

You have the evidence and the teacher will have an opportunity to prove they are not racist.

1. This has to be a joke.
2. If not, that word "prove" doesn't mean whan you think it means.

NP, I wanted to add that the person talking petition I believe was trying to be sarcastic and make it sound like a witch hunt/return to McCarthy era.

[Anonymous]

My DD who is white was treated horribly one year. If I had been black, I would have assumed she was a racist. The truth of the matter is she is a horrible person who was power hungry. OP racism is very hard to prove. It might be the case but just know there are lots of ways teachers unfairly discriminate. My DD's crime was not being popular .