California teacher who wants to 'bring back slavery' made racist comments against black and Latino students, placed on leave
A California teacher has been placed on administrative leave for a second time after she allegedly told her students that she wants to "bring back slavery". According to the Los Angeles Times, she also made racist commented targeting black and Latino students in her classroom at the Space and Aeronautics Gateway to Exploration Magnet Academy in Palmdale.
According to her students, she is also a huge supporter of President Donald Trump and even praised his idea of a wall at the Mexico border. She apparently also claimed that she would torture students and made disturbing comments about eating human flesh.
The allegations against the teacher, who has not been identified, is being investigated by officials even as she was placed on leave. She was first placed on leave in late October after students brought concerns about her comments to staff members. After the investigation conducted by an independent investigator after the first allegations, she returned to school a week ago on December 13, but by Monday evening new allegations were leveled against her.
Ryan Beardsley, assistant superintendent of human resources at the Palmdale School District, said regarding the allegations, “Employees are entitled to contractual rights, labor law, and due process." He declined to reveal the exact comments, but said that they were "racial in nature." The teacher has reportedly been employed with the Palmdale School District for about six years and is tenured.
At a news conference on Thursday, the students revealed that the teacher's classroom is filled with Trump memorabilia, which includes posters and mugs, and that her assignments would make a lot of them uncomfortable.
“It would be uncomfortable for me as a child of an undocumented person to go in that class and suck up all her words and her nasty comments,” eighth-grader Jossylin Villegas said during the conference. “Imagine being an hour in that class and having to hear her talk about how we shouldn’t be here, about how we live off of white people’s money and we’re just stealing their jobs.”
Data shows that Latinos make up the largest student population in the Palmdale school district — about 70% — and are followed by black students.