A school district on Long Island, New York, has launched an investigation into claims that a middle-school teacher asked students to “write something funny” about pictures on slavery as part of a class assignment.
The assignment allegedly tasked eighth-grade students at John W. Dodd Middle School in Freeport with writing a “funny” title and caption for a series of black-and-white photos of slaves in cotton fields.
It was widely condemned on Facebook after a woman uploaded images of the worksheets with such photo captions as “black girls work hard play hard” and “Us black people need to get out” written beneath them. An image of the worksheets uploaded by Darlene McCurty, a student’s grandmother, is titled “Black girl magic” and another is headlined “Getting that money.”
McCurty wrote in a Sept. 20 Facebook post that she was contacted by her granddaughter, who was disturbed by the assignment given to a friend of hers. The post has been shared more than a thousand times. McCurty could not immediately be reached for comment.
Dr. Kishore Kuncham, superintendent of Freeport Public Schools, addressed the assignment in a statement Sunday.
“I have been informed that during a recent eighth grade Reconstruction Era social studies lesson at J.W. Dodd Middle School, a faculty member is reported to have used directions to describe an assignment that were very upsetting to some students and families,” Kuncham said. “The emotional and social wellness of our students is always our highest priority and we take any insensitive comments made by staff very seriously.
Kuncham said he has directed that an investigation of these claims be immediately conducted.
A spokesman for the school district declined to comment on whether the teacher behind the alleged assignment was still working while the investigation is being conducted. The spokesman referred NBC News to the superintendent’s message posted on the district’s website.
McCurty’s granddaughter told her that the social studies teacher, who she said is white, instructed students to make their comments “really funny because she didn’t want to be bored,” according to the Sept. 20 Facebook post.
J.W. Dodd Middle School caters to all seventh and eighth grade students in the district and as of the 2017-2018 school year, its student body was 66 percent Hispanic and 25 percent African American, according to the New York State Education Department.
In May, the New York State Attorney General’s Office announced its findings in a probe into incidents at The Chapel School, a private school in Bronxville, New York, where a teacher held mock slave auctions in two separate fifth-grade social studies classes in March.
“The investigation found that the teacher’s re-enactments in the two classes had a profoundly negative effect on all of the students present — especially the African American students — and the school community at large,” state Attorney General Letitia James said in a statement at the time. “Following the re-enactments, the school terminated the teacher’s employment.”
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Bài viết New York teacher allegedly told students to write funny captions on slave photos – NBC News đã xuất hiện đầu tiên vào ngày Funface.
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