Posted on February 8, 2012

Blanche Ely Teacher Accused of Calling Haitian-American Student ‘Little Chocolate Boy’

Laura Figueroa, Miami Herald, February 3, 2012

A Blanche Ely High School teacher once in hot water over “holy water” now finds herself facing disciplinary action again after a Haitian-American student complained that she called him “little chocolate boy.”

Reading teacher Leslie Rainer, 46, could be suspended over the complaint filed with the school district in January. In it, a Haitian-American student complained that she called him “little chocolate boy” and “chocolate that nobody wanted” last May.

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“[Rainer] has had a history of inappropriate conduct towards her part-Haitian, minority descent students,” the complaint notes. “Respondent made a statement to a student that, ‘I wish they would put you in a boat and send you back where you came from.’ ”

The complaint also says Rainer once told a student to stand in the corner near a garbage can because “that’s where he belongs.”

Rainer has been in trouble before. In May 2010, an atheist colleague accused Rainer and another teacher of pretending to sprinkle her with “holy water” in front of students. Though initially removed from their teaching posts, the two were later cleared of any wrongdoing and returned to the classroom.

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