Illinois teacher Kim Johnson tells kids that 'fetuses turn GAY when they're unwanted'
MORTON, ILLINOIS: A current part-time Morton High School teacher is facing accusations of homophobia, transphobia, misogyny, and racial insensitivity. And student testimonies reportedly show that these claims go as far back as 2009.
The Morton High School teacher has been accused of making bigoted remarks and creating a "harmful and uncomfortable" environment in her American Problems class. One of these remarks allegedly was about how a child became gay because they “weren’t wanted in your parent’s womb”.
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Who is Kim Johnson?
Morton school district's superintendent Dr Jeff Hill reportedly said that the teacher, Kim Johnson, is currently being investigated. Johnson no longer teaches the American Problems class but is still employed at Morton High School as a part-time French teacher.
Hill said, “Due to the ongoing nature of the investigation and the fact that this involves a matter involving both student and employee privacy, we cannot provide further comment.” In a meeting with students and parents on August 13, he added: “As a school district and as an employer, our employees have rights as well, and so we have to do our due diligence as we work through this process.”
Maya Phan, a 2017 Morton High graduate, said, "I think that she is exacting and hateful is the way that I could put it. I don't think there are any words that can quite accurately describe the amount of damage that she has done as an educator."
According to Phan, Johnson used her class's open debate forum to debate topics such as race, abortion, gay marriage, immigration, etc., as a means to express her own bigoted views. "She claimed to have a very impartial role and it very much quickly turned into her spewing her own opinions," Phan said. "Her opinions were often very hurtful and very much either racist or homophobic and she would say it in front of everybody in class not knowing whether people are LGBT+ in the classroom."
“She basically said that people that looked like me, she wouldn't have any problem if I got stopped at an airport for no reason because it's a better use of police allocation and funding," Phan said. "She proceeded to ask me if I was gay in front of the entire class. She warned a boy to be careful at a college party because girls like to cry rape."
Andrew Irwin, who took Johnson's class back in 2009, said she made similar comments at that time as well. "I signed up for American Problems with the intention and the hope to learn about the problems that were facing America, and it was very early on in the semester that Kim Johnson shared with our class that she thought being gay was a choice," Irwin said. "And it was at that time that it became clear to me that there wasn't going to be a lot of productive learning going on in that classroom."
Irwin also alleged that Johnson would hug her students often, sit on their desks, and bring her religious views into the classroom, which he said would make him and others uncomfortable. “She was incapable from what I could tell from separating her responsibilities as an educator with her religious beliefs,” Irwin said.
One former student who took Johnson’s class in 2017, said under the condition of anonymity, “I remember comments being made like if you were gay that was because you weren’t wanted in your parent’s womb.” The student also said that she made a formal complaint against Johnson while she was still in school. She said Johnson would claim to play devil’s advocate on certain topics but instead alleged the teacher created an environment for her and other students to freely express hostility. “Every time I left the classroom, I just felt like I was just shaking and nervous,” she said.
On Thursday, August 19, parents, students, and community members gathered to protest outside Morton High School, holding signs demanding “Remove Kim Johnson,” while others condemned a school board member who made a transphobic comment underneath a Facebook post encouraging people to ignore the state’s mask mandate. “I don’t see how they can’t preach kids to stop bullying when they are the bully on the school board,” one student, Josie Kneller, said.
Responding to the protest, superintendent Hill said in a statement: “Morton District 709 does not and will not tolerate discrimination or harassment of any kind. While individual board members, administrators, and employees do have First Amendment rights to make statements on their own behalf, the position of the school district is only communicated through the Superintendent or Board President.”