Middle School Teacher Put on Leave Without Pay Following Racist Rant

A Pennsylvania teacher is placed on unpaid leave after video surfaces of her subjecting a black parent to a racist rant.

Per the Upper Darby School District Superintendent, Daniel McGarry, the incident took place in the Drexel Hill Middle School parking lot. The unnamed teacher and parent, Rasheed Noel, were involved in a minor car accident while he was dropping off his child. This prompted the teacher to start spewing racially charged and homophobic insults at the man. Noel responded by recording the incident.

She accused the man of being on welfare and looking to milk the system “because [he’s] black.” “Go back to your welfare Section 8 house,” the teacher yells at the man. “Go fuck off, you nigger.”

Noel uploaded the video to his Facebook where it caught the attention of McGarry. The superintendent then released a statement in which he says the exchange was “not an appropriate way to act within your community or in public.” McGarry also claimed that the teacher would be placed on unpaid leave as a result of the incident, but stopped short of stating that she would be terminated. Instead, the district plans on implementing ways to improve its cultural competency.

“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,” the statement reads. “We will be working with our District’s Deep Equity Team to develop ways to reflect on this incident with staff across the District.”