A school teacher in Long Island, New York, is under investigation after allegedly instructing her middle school students to “write something funny” under photos of enslaved African-Americans as part of a class assignment.
Darlene McCurty, whose granddaughter is a student at John W. Dodd Middle School in Freeport, detailed the “insensitive” lesson on Facebook, explaining how the eighth grade social studies teacher told students to write comical captions under black-and-white images of slaves picking cotton.
The educator, identified as Shelly Scully, reportedly didn’t want to be bored.
A teacher in Long Island, New York, allegedly told students to write “funny” captions under slavery photos because she didn’t want to be bored. (Photo: Darlene McCurty / Facebook photo)
McCurty said her grandchild, who isn’t in Scully’s class but has friends who are, showed her photos of some of the custom captions, which read,”#Gettin That Money,” and “Black Girls work hard, play hard.”
A photo of a group of enslaved workers in the cotton field with who appears to be the overseer is captioned: “#I HATE THIS. US BLACK PEOPLE NEED TO GET OUT.”
Now McCurty is among those calling for the teacher, who she says is white, to be fired “for her blatant insensitivity and racism toward teaching this lesson on slavery.”
“My granddaughter was and still is very upset” by this, she wrote, noting that her granddaughter’s friends refused to write anything funny for the photos. Her post garnered plenty of reactions from online users who were equally offended and angry over the class assignment.
“Disgusting and totally insensitive..her license should be revoked,” one critic wrote.
“This is HORRIFIC!!!,” another chimed in. “I blame the so-called ‘leader’ to give these cowards courage to split their lips to make these racist comments and think it’s OK!!”
The uproar prompted a response from Freeport Public Schools Superintendent Kishore Kuncham, who addressed the incident in a statement.
“I have been informed that during a recent eighth grade Reconstruction Era social studies lesson at J.W. Dodd Middle School, a faculty member is reported to have used directions to describe an assignment that were very upsetting to some students and families,” said Kuncham. “The emotional and social wellness of our students is always our highest priority and we take any insensitive comments made by staff very seriously.”
The superintendent said the incident is now under review. A district spokesman confirmed to Atlanta Black Star that, “During this time, the teacher has been administratively reassigned outside the classroom until the investigation is completed.”
“This district has no further comment at this time,” he said.
