A woke fourth grade teacher at the Granite School District in Utah was placed on leave and is under investigation after posting a video on social media this month boasting how her classroom was built for “non-white students.”
The teacher in question posted a video earlier this month explaining that her classroom does not show any white students represented.
“For the first time in my life, I’m going to be teaching at a majority white school. And I’m kind of interested to see how students and parents react to my classroom or if they even notice anything about it,” she said in the video.
“It’s built for non-white students. And what I mean by that is like if you look around and you interact with some of the materials I have, you’ll notice that there’s no white kids represented,” she added. “Not a single white face there.”
This 4th grade teacher @WilliamPennEl explains that her classroom “is built for non-white students.” pic.twitter.com/jttAA1VWqy
— ?? Inside The Classroom (@EITC_Official) August 20, 2022
The elementary school teacher added that her classroom library is “overpowered” by literature including “diverse peoples.”
“I feel like some parents might have something to say about that — if my experience with posh, White parents holds true for this year. We’ll see,” she concluded.
Reportedly, the teacher has since removed the video and apologized. But, the school district launched an investigation.
On Sunday, William Penn Elementary Principal Dr. Nicole Higgins issued a statement regarding the video.
“Earlier this afternoon, a very disconcerting social media post from one of our employees came to our attention. The post addressed ideas surrounding inclusion and content for students,” the statement said.
“It is my personal commitment to our students and families to ensure every student feels safe and welcome within the classrooms of William Penn Elementary. Furthermore, it is inappropriate for any employee to make students feel unwelcome in any way, shape, or form.”
Higgins added that once the investigation is complete, the district will take “appropriate corrective action.” In the meantime, the school's official Twitter account has been taken down.
UPDATE: The School Issues a Statement??
— ?? Inside The Classroom (@EITC_Official) August 21, 2022
They posted a statement on their Facebook page. Interesting that they claim that the post originated a few months ago. This isn’t true. It was posted on the 7th of this month. Lastly, why did they delete their Twitter account? https://t.co/4khzO09gJ4 pic.twitter.com/v7IkKjsXo3
According to William Penn’s website, 86 percent of the 560 students at the school are Caucasian.
In a statement to Fox News Digital, Nicole Neily, the president and founder of nonprofit Parents Defending Education, said that parents are more worried about education issues now that students are back to in-person learning.
“They no longer had a window into their children's educations,” she said, pointing out that most students were learning from home during the pandemic. “Videos like this prove that in many cases, those fears are well-founded” about returning to school.