by Deputy Diva

Marianna teacher ‘told students what ‘CHANGE’ stood for’ 

Meet Greg Howard.  He is/was a seventh grade social studies teacher in Marianna, Florida.  On Sept. 26 he asked several of his classes a question regarding Obama’s call for change, and proceeded to write out what (he believes) the letters C-H-A-N-G-E stood for.

His definition however, was not the one that Sen. Barack Obama’s speaks of to fix this broken economy from the bottom up; rather, Mr. Howard wrote on the board:

“Can You Help A N–ger Get Elected”, and then laughed about it,” said Shelia Christian, a mother of one of Howard’s students.

Jackson County Superintendent Danny Sims said that description of this incident was “pretty accurate.”

Sims said Howard apparently repeated the action in more than one class, having made the comment in “a couple of periods.”

According to a news release from the school board, Howard was suspended with pay on Monday, Sept. 29.   As of Thursday, he was suspended without pay for 10 days, was relieved of his football coaching duties, and will be transferred to the Jackson County Adult Education program, according to JCSB.  Howard is also required to submit a letter of apology to the students involved, and is required to attend diversity and sensitivity training, the school board reported.

I’m not sure why the school board thinks that this individual is still fit to teach and I honestly don’t think that any amount of sensitivity and diversity training is going to eradicate the racist beliefs he obviously has.  I also don’t know why he was initially suspended WITH pay after an incident like this, but then again we are talking about the state that still has Swanee River as its state song. 

Superintendent Sims said Howard’s racial commentary was not directed at any students, but were directed at a political party.

(Yeah right!)

School officials of course believe that they have handled this matter swiftly and have imposed still penalties.  They now consider the incident water under the bridge by Sims’ statement, “The situation is behind us and we’re ready to move forward.”   SOURCE