Fifth Grade Teacher Suspended for Telling Students They Were ‘Acting Like Monkeys in a Zoo’

A fifth-grade teacher in Indiana has been suspended after telling her students they were ‘acting like monkeys in a zoo.’

The unidentified teacher was suspended with pay after making the comment on February 24 as outraged parents fumed to the Merrillville School Board.

{snip}

Parents in the school district angrily voiced their complaints at the board meeting, as the Gary branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People has launched an investigation, the Chicago Tribune reported.

Superintendent Dexter Suggs said: ‘We take matters like this extremely seriously.’

Stephen Mays, NAACP’s Gary branch president, condemned the school for not meeting with frustrated parents who subsequently turned to the organization.

‘We understand that NAACP members were concerned about why the staff member was not immediately removed, but personnel decisions must follow our guidelines and contractual language and due process,’ Suggs said, according to the Tribune.

However, the superintendent said the investigation is being pushed forward with ‘a sense of urgency’ and hopes it can come to an end by Friday.

The teacher’s remarks were reported to the school’s principal by students almost immediately, according to Suggs. The principal informed parents with children in the class, the outlet reported.

According to Suggs, the teacher admitted fault but said the comments were not intended to have racial implications.

{snip}