In another incident of teachers resigning after going viral on social media, a North Carolina educator has resigned after he was heard using profanity while speaking to students. According to WCTI-TV, officials at Southwest High School in Jacksonville informed the Onslow County School District about the teacher's outburst, which happened during the first period of classes on Wednesday, March 16.
They noted that action was taken promptly in response and parents of the students in the class were informed of the situation by the end of the day. By Friday the teacher, who has not been identified, submitted their resignation.
"Wanna try my authority? Because I am f**king done playing with you idiots," the teacher can be heard saying in the video, which was recorded and shared by Cimayiah Josey, a sophomore student. Josey told WCTI-TV that prior to the outburst, the teacher asked students to put their phones and computers away. But when one student didn’t comply the teacher lost his temper.
"I'm here because I want to be here. I somewhat enjoy this job. You need something from me. I need nothing from you,” he said.
"You can go through life and live on the f**king system, draw your paycheck on the 1st and 15th from my taxes and live an absolute horrible life. I don't care. You can be another statistic. I don't care. That's on you and if you think it's funny, I can take you down to the county office and we'll pull the f**king numbers."
Josey told the news station that she "felt like it was racially motivated. It was disrespectful.” She added: "Your job is to encourage me and to push me to be the best I can be, even though it wasn't said directly to me, dang, that's how you really think about us?"
According to Josey, when the teacher saw she was reacting to his heated remarks, she was ordered to leave the classroom. The footage supports this claim. “And if you don’t like my language, I don’t give a sh*t,” the teacher shouted.
Josey told WCTI-TV that she recorded the incident because she didn’t think people would believe her otherwise. "I was scared, I didn't know what to do," she said.
Following the incident, students including Josey, said they felt traumatized. Many expressed that they are afraid to return to school. The intention behind the rant was and whether it was racially motivated is unclear at this time. However, given the comments made it is clear the teacher had some sort of racial bias or conception of stereotypes.
“I just know that regardless of what he said to me, I know that I’m not a statistic,” Josey told McClatchy News. “And I know that I’m not going to be a statistic because I have the support that I need and, regardless, I’m going to make it.”
In a statement addressing the incident, the school district said: "In the Onslow County School system, we expect only the highest standards of behavior from our students and staff, and that we treat every member of our school family with dignity and respect.
"The type of behavior exhibited in this situation will not be tolerated and is certainly not representative of the employees of Southwest High School, or any other employees who work in our district."
Republished with permission from Daily Kos.
