A Georgia teacher was fired from his job after a video that circulated on social media showed him writing a racial slur on a whiteboard in a class full of students.
The brief clip shows the teacher at Walnut Grove High School standing in front of a whiteboard after writing the N-word and excluding the last letter.
Several students are heard laughing. When the teacher begins a countdown, several students are heard shouting, “R!'” egging the teacher on to write the final letter of the word.
Smiling, the teacher writes the final letter and completes the word as some students cheer and applaud.
The Walton County School District released a statement on its website notifying the district community that the staff member was terminated from his position.
“The behavior captured in the video does not reflect the values of Walnut Grove High School or the Walton County School District,” the statement reads. “Immediate action was taken, and the teacher is no longer employed with Walton County Schools. Our commitment remains clear: every student deserves a safe, supportive, and respectful environment.”
Some Walton County parents were shocked and disappointed by the video. One parent, Adrienna Wyatt, said the daughter of a family friend who was inside the classroom recorded the incident.
“That should never be brought up in a classroom, like ever,” Wyatt told WSB-TV. “People need to be held accountable for that and it’s not OK to make kids feel a certain type of way while they’re in your classroom.”
“He probably got these students thinking to say it. They’re probably saying it now,” parent Gary Brown said.
The video shows a few white students sitting in front of the classroom, but Wyatt said Black students were also present.
When asked why she thought some students thought the incident was funny, Wyatt said, “Because they knew it was probably embarrassing because there were Black kids in the classroom.”
Maurice Ash, an activist, posted the video on his personal Facebook with biting commentary.
“Absolutely disgraceful. A teacher at Walnut Grove High in Walton County, GA was caught on video writing the N-word on the board—at the students’ prompting. This happened in a classroom, on the last day before spring break. The video went viral, and now he’s out of a job.”
It’s unclear what led up to the incident, but WSB-TV reports that some sort of game was being played when the teacher wrote the slur. The school system has also not released the identity of the teacher or said whether the students heard laughing and cheering were disciplined.
“A lot of people saying, ‘Oh, it was a joke. You don’t know what they were saying before.’ But what kind of joke inside of a classroom setting has to deal with those types of racial slurs?” Wyatt asked.
