Teacher Placed on Leave for Holding Mock Slave Auction

'These teaching methods are not to be used,' superintendent in Massachusetts says
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Jun 3, 2024 4:25 PM CDT

"Holding a mock slave auction is unacceptable," a school district superintendent in central Massachusetts said in a letter to parents after a fifth-grade teacher was placed on leave. Superintendent Gregory Martineau said the teacher at Margaret Neary Elementary School in Southborough held "an impromptu mock slave auction" during a history lesson in January, WCVB reports. "The educator asked two children sitting in front of the room, who were of color, to stand, and the educator and class discussed physical attributes" including teeth and strength, Martineau wrote.

"Simulations or role plays when teaching about historical atrocities or trauma are not appropriate, and these teaching methods are not to be used," the superintendent wrote. He said that in a second incident months later, "the educator used the 'N-word,'" while discussing a text that had been read aloud, Martineau said. "It was later brought to the District's attention that the 'N-word' does not appear in the book." He said the book had been recommended by one of the teacher's colleagues but wasn't part of the core fifth-grade curriculum.

Both incidents were reported to the district on April 24, Martineau said. He said parents had an opportunity to meet with the teacher and the principal to discuss the incidents, but "the next day, the educator inappropriately called out the student who had reported the educator's use of the racial slur, which is not acceptable." The teacher is on paid administrative leave, he said. The school's principal was also placed on leave for a week early last month, NBC Boston reports. (More Massachusetts stories.)

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