Teacher suspended for allowing student to dress as Ku Klux Klan member for class project
A high school history teacher has been suspended indefinitely for allowing a student to dress as a Ku Klux Klan member for a class project.
On Monday, Scott Dill, the superintendent of the Poplar Bluff School District in Poplar Bluff, Mo., addressed the ninth-grade class that had participated in the American history assignment and read aloud an apology letter from the unnamed teacher. The educator had supervised students performing skits on various amendments to the U.S. Constitution on Friday, according to the Springfield News-Leader.
One of those students presented on the 15th Amendment, which prohibited citizens from being denied the right to vote based on “race, color, or previous condition of servitude,” while dressed as a member of the white supremacist group the Ku Klux Klan. The organization has participated in voter suppression and much worse throughout U.S. history.
The costume became public in part because Poplar Bluff resident Brianna Anthony, a 2017 graduate of Poplar Bluff High School, shared a Facebook post showing the KKK outfit. Story: https://bit.ly/2QxIrX9
Posted by Springfield News-Leader on Friday, November 9, 2018
“I want to sincerely apologize for the pain and negative attention that I have brought to our classroom, school, and community. I made a mistake on Friday during our skit assignment,” read the teacher’s letter, a copy of which Dill sent to Yahoo Lifestyle. “I let a student wear an inappropriate costume that was unacceptable and hurt many people’s feelings. As the professional in the room, I should have known better. I am sorry. It is my job to ensure my students feel safe in class and at school. Because of my lapse in judgment, many of you were hurt and felt uncomfortable. I never wanted that to happen. I think of my classes as my family, and I would never intentionally offend or hurt any of you. I am so sorry for making this mistake, and I hope that you can all forgive me and we can work through this together. I understand that healing and forgiveness take time, and I am absolutely okay with that.”
Dill tells Yahoo Lifestyle that on Friday during a fire drill, the teacher approached him to convey his remorse. “He recognized that a terrible choice had been made and we began our investigation.”
According to the superintendent, the student’s group had chosen heroes and villains to present the 15th Amendment, and the KKK costume signified the latter. “We’ve been told that the kid crafted the costume at home without the teacher’s knowledge, brought it to school in a bag, put it on just before the skit, and afterward left it with the teacher,” Dill tells Yahoo Lifestyle.
Over the weekend, as a photo of the student went viral, Dill met with various community leaders, and on Monday, Bishop Ron Webb, a local civil rights activist, accompanied him to school to address students.
“We turned it into a teachable moment, and the kids all had questions about what occurred,” says Dill. “We discussed what the costume means in history and the teacher’s tragic choice, especially during this moment in time — there’s no place for this in schools.”
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