The two Williamson County school teachers who asked students to hand out tasks to their pretend slaves have reportedly resigned from their jobs because of a “strong backlash from the community.”
This, after parents met with Williamson County School Superintendent Mike Looney Tuesday night — a meeting reportedly off-limits to the press.
Brentwoodhomepage.com reported the news Wednesday.
As reported, the two teachers are Kim Best and Susan Hooper, and they teach at Sunset Middle School in Brentwood.
The parents reportedly called for Best’s and Hooper’s resignations, according to Brentwoodhomepage.com
The website quoted Inneta Gaines, who said the county school system has a problem with “cultural insensitivity.”
“I don’t have a student at Sunset Middle, but I have friends that have students there,” Gaines reportedly said.
“One in particular, there was an incident that happened about building a wall in a classroom, this [being] the Trump wall. This is stuff that’s going on in our school that doesn’t get brought to light.”
Gaines told the website it “was not an appropriate assignment to give, especially in the political climate we’re in, especially with the diversity training that they (teachers) are supposed to be getting.”
As The Tennessee Star reported this week, county school system officials recently made teachers watch a video that tried to instruct them on how to teach students about “white privilege.”
The 26-minute in-service training video, the third in a series about cultural competency, profiles several people whom the video describes as “Williamson County Voices.”
The video does not identify anyone, nor does it make clear if these people are school system employees or county residents not formally affiliated with the school system. One man, though, identified himself as a school administrator.
In the video, they and the narrator discuss social justice causes, the perks white males supposedly have that others do not, America’s supposed dysfunctional history, and how unfair it all is.
A Williamson County School System logo kicked off the video.
The Star confirmed teachers at at least one county school had to watch.
A few minutes in, a female appears and seems to go on a guilt trip about her supposed white privilege. She spoke of receiving things others have not and how she has a responsibility to share her privilege with other people.
The video’s narrator later told viewers “that white individuals do enjoy unearned advantages that society does not necessarily offer to individuals of color.”
Williamson County officials had the ultimate power to approve this In-service “white privilege” training curriculum for their teachers last month, said Chandler Hopper, spokeswoman for the Tennessee Department of Education.
But, as The Star reported, that’s inconsistent with the TDOE’s standards and practices on In-service teacher training, as specified on that department’s website.
Tennessee’s education commissioner, according to the rules, has the final say approving any In-service training plans. Local school system officials submit those plans to the education commissioner months before the start of the new school year.
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Chris Butler is an investigative journalist at The Tennessee Star. Follow Chris on Facebook. Email tips to [email protected].
The direction comes from the supt, Looney needs to go.