First Grade Teacher Under Fire Spelling List N-Word

Source: Lise Gagne / Getty

A Florida teacher is under fire for sending home a spelling list to their first grade students with the n-word on it. Apparently, the word should have been “bigger,” but parents don’t care. They are outraged.

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“That bothered me. I was very offended by it,” parent Terry Day told WESH 2 Investigates.

“In today’s society, it’s very prevalent. Racism! It’s very prevalent.”

Her daughter Rosa came home from Hamilton Elementary with the list, but was confused as to why that word would be part of a school assignment.

“My daughter said to me, she said, ‘I know that word and I know what that word means, but is this supposed to be on my paper?’” Day said.

Day went to the school in Sanford–the same town where Trayvon Martin was killed– to speak with the teacher.

“I said, ‘Well, you didn’t spell-check your word? You didn’t proofread your word before you sent that out?’ And (the teacher) said, ‘It is a word.’ And I didn’t like the attitude behind that one,’” Day said.

So how could this happen? Let the teacher tell it, the “B” and “N” keys are right next to each other and there was an “innocent” mix-up.

To make matters even worse, the teacher sent a note home telling parents to disregard the list because there was a misspelling, but never made mention that it was a racial slur.

She wrote, “Dear Parents: Please be advised there was a misspelled word on the blue spelling list I sent home yesterday. Please throw the blue list away and refer to this list for the next six weeks. I apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. Please contact me if you have any concerns.”

Sigh….

Day stressed to the news outlet that her response was extremely problematic.

“‘Inconvenience’ means sorry for the bother. So, I mean, it was not apologetic, it was not ‘sorry.’ Even when I met with her in person, she wasn’t sorry, wasn’t apologetic, like, ‘Oh my God, I’m so sorry. I would have removed this.’ No! It wasn’t like that,” she explained.

Regardless of her anger, Day doesn’t believe that the teacher, who has been employed in the school district for 16 years, should be fired. She just believes parents deserve a stronger apology than what they have been given.

WESH reported that the teacher in question doesn’t have a discipline history, and most likely will not be punished in this case.

“The district is aware of the unintentional and unfortunate mistake regarding the typo on the spelling words worksheet. The teacher involved has taught at Hamilton Elementary for many years and is extremely remorseful about the situation,” a school spokesman, Michael Lawrence wrote in a statement.

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First Grade Teacher Under Fire For “Accidentally” Sending Home Spelling List With The “N-Word” On It  was originally published on hellobeautiful.com