A Pennsylvania teacher has been suspended after her appalling behavior was caught on video by a parent.
The parent, Rasheed Noel, was involved in a minor car accident with the teacher while on school property, which prompted the teacher’s outrageous racist rant.
In the video, the teacher can be heard yelling at Noel that he’s “probably on welfare” to which Noel replies “Not even a little bit. Six figures a year, ma’am.”
Once Noel called out the teacher on making racist remarks, things went from bad to worse.
Noel accused the teacher of making the welfare remark simply because of his skin color to which she responded “That’s right, because you’re black!”
She continued on saying, “That’s right, always looking to milk the system. And, you see me – a white woman – so you think I have money.”
Noel posted the disturbing video on Facebook, completely appalled that a teacher would act in such a manner.
“Listen close at 1:17 what she calls me (N****). She hits my car and acts like this on school property in front of students and staff,” Noel wrote in the caption of the clip.
The video went viral and the school was quick to respond to the incident.
After investigating the incident, the district released a statement saying “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.”
They continued the statement below:
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.
Noel responded to the district’s swift action saying “I commend the Upper Darby school district for taking quick action on this teacher at Drexel Hill Middle School. They are doing everything in their power to make sure people like this teacher become non-existent in any school. After meeting with the superintendent of Upper Darby school district and his staff, I’m [here] to say they absolutely care about their community.”
