A High School Teacher Is Under Fire For Saying He Won't Teach Undocumented Students
As Trump's war on illegal immigrants rages on, a high school teacher in Hawaii is currently being slammed for allegedly refusing to teach undocumented students.
The faculty at Campbell High School in Ewa Beach, Hawaii were emailing back and forth in an internal chain whose subject line read "Students Are Being Kept Home From School Due to Deportation Fears." According to a copy of the email obtained by HawaiiNewsNow, one of the teachers, John Sullivan, responded to chain with the following email:
"This is another attack on the President over deportation. Their parents need to apply for immigration like everyone else. If they are here in the US illegally, I won't teach them."
His comment made nationwide headlines, and promoted the principal, John Henry Lee, to meet with him. Lee also reportedly issued an email to faculty asking them to refrain from using the internal email system to express political sentiments, and reminded them that, "In accordance with [the DOE Code of Conduct] we are strictly prohibited from discriminating against, including harassing, any student based on his/her national origin. If a student is enrolled and registered in our school we will service them to the best of our ability just like all other students."
One of the reasons the incident made so many waves is probably because it happened on the same week that Hawaii became the first state to file a lawsuit over Trump's new travel ban on six Muslim-majority nations.
However, some people on social media are supporting Sullivan's controversial statement.
In his defense, Sullivan said the whole situation was a "misunderstanding."
"My comment in the email refers to (the email's title) if students is (sic) kept home, teachers cannot teach them," he told HawaiiNewsNow.
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