Texas School District issues apology letter after ‘staged photo’ of teacher’s foot on Black student’s neck surfaces on surface
Greenville Independent School District Superintendent Dr. Demetrus Liggins sent an apology letter to parents after the district says it became aware of a “highly upsetting” photo that allegedly shows a teacher’s foot on the neck of a Black student. The photo started circulating within the community after it was posted to social media, according to the school district. The student’s family showed the photo told WFAA 8 claiming the teacher texted the picture to the boy’s mom.
The student attends Lamar Elementary. “I didn’t like it from the moment I seen it,” the boy’s dad Shamell said. However, the boy’s mother says the teacher told her son to return an assignment or she’d put a foot on his neck. The mother says the teacher didn’t have any bad intentions citing she known the teacher for years and thinks there is no evil in her heart.
However, the dad disagrees. “I don’t really understand the whole situation, but all I know is it was never supposed to happen,” Shamell said.
Greenville ISD says after it learned of the photo and immediately contacted the student’s family. “We will continue to be in touch with the family to be sure the student feels comfortable and safe on campus,” the letter said. The district says the teacher who “staged the photo” has been placed on administrative leave. The district also stated that the situation will be thoroughly investigated, and “appropriate action will be taken.”
“My initial reaction was disgust,” Greenville ISD Superintendent Demetrus Liggins said. “That is not who we are. That picture does not define our teachers, it does not define the way we treat our students and what the expectation is throughout our district.”
Liggins says he doesn’t not take the incident lightly “We’re a community that truly embraces and respects each other, our differences, and celebrate the many cultures that exist here,” he said.
The boy’s uncle also shares the frustration.
“With what’s going on in the world right now that ain’t nothing to play about at all,” the boy’s uncle said. “Whether he agreed to do it, she asked him to do it, it don’t even matter. He’s 10. He don’t know no better. She do though.”
The photo was taken the same day former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was found guilty of manslaughter in George Floyd’s death.
“After a year of lots of trials and challenges due to the pandemic, to have this occur on the day that it occurred, the optics again were just not good at all regardless of the intentions were,” Liggins said.
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