Frenship ISD Teacher Apologizes After McKinney-Related Segregation Post

A Frenship teacher said she apologized after writing a Facebook post saying she was “almost to the point” of wanting segregation regarding a racially charged police issue in McKinney.

Karen Fitzgibbons, a teacher at Bennett Elementary School, told A-J Media she deleted the post Wednesday evening–a day after writing the publicly viewable post on her Facebook page.

Karen Fitzgibbons

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Fitzgibbons started the post by saying a McKinney police officer’s resignation after a dispute at a swimming pool made her angry and that the officer should not have to resign.

“I’m going to just go ahead and say it . . . the blacks are the ones causing the problems and this ‘racial tension.’ I guess that’s what happens when you flunk out of school and have no education. I’m sure their parents are just as guilty for not knowing what their kids were doing; or knew it and didn’t care. I’m almost to the point of wanting them all segregated on one side of town so they can hurt each other and leave the innocent people alone. Maybe the 50s and 60s were really on to something. Now, let the bashing of my true and honest opinion begin . . . . GO! #imnotracist #imsickofthemcausingtrouble #itwasatagedcommunity,” the Facebook post stated.

Fitzgibbons insisted the post “was not directed at any one person or group.”

“It was not an educational post; it was a personal experience post,” Fitzgibbons said, adding she has a personal connection to the McKinney situation, but declined to elaborate.

She added: “I apologized to the appropriate people,” declining to identify those people.

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Presented with the post, Andy Penney, director of public relations and information at Frenship Independent School District, said in an email all FISD employees are subject to local policies defining employee standards of conduct and electronic media practices.

Frenship’s policy states that employees will be held to the same professional standards in their public use of electronic media as they are for any other public conduct. The policy specifically mentions social networking sites Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and LinkedIn.

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He confirmed Fitzgibbons remained a fourth-grade teacher at the elementary as of Wednesday but declined to comment further on her status or possible action by the district, citing personnel issues.

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Fitzgibbons’ FISD profile page states she has worked 20 years in education, including 16 for Frenship.