Florida teacher suspension gets much local, national attention

Since it was first reported in the Jackson County Floridan  Thursday, the racial slur incident and subsequent suspension of Marianna Middle School teacher Greg Howard has been heavily discussed among residents and media sources all over the nation.

“I have nothing to say except that it is a most unfortunate incident,” said Betty Duffee, Jackson County School Board, District 3.

Many are speaking out against the incident, as well as on the measures made by the school board since it took place.

On Monday, the seventh-grade social studies teacher at Marianna Middle School was initially placed on suspension after he told students that the letters in the word “change” included an N that stood for a racial expletive by writing it on a board in more than one of his class periods.

A few days later, Howard was placed on a 10-day suspension without pay. Additionally, Howard will be required to take diversity training, write a letter of apology to the students that were involved and was stripped of his football coaching responsibilities.

After his suspension, Howard will be transferred to the school district’s adult education program, pending any action that could be taken by the Florida Department of Education.
“
He doesn’t need to be teaching anymore,” said Veverly Bailey of Marianna. “It’s not a fair choice they made. How many minds did he impact for a lifetime when he did what he did? White or black or whatever color the students involved were all young and impressionable. That’s no joke ... For (Jackson County School Superintendent Danny) Sims to say it was directed at a political party, please: Are any of those middle schoolers old enough to vote? Besides, did he watch the Democratic convention? If he had, he would have seen a rainbow of people, not just blacks. This isn’t a political issue. This is about racism and a reckless educator.”

In addition to a lot of local focus on the incident, it was also discussed on multiple national news outlets, such as CNN, Fox News and MSNBC.

MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann named Howard on his daily “World’s Worst” list Wednesday.

Bailey said that she’s disappointed Jackson County is getting national attention in a negative way.

“So many of our teachers here are compassionate and conscientious and try so hard to do what is right. This man should not represent them as a school district. Or us as a city,” said Bailey.

School board member Chris Johnson said he’s going to wait for more details on the incident before he passes judgement.
Johnson said he has not been fully informed on details surrounding the incident. He said that, as far as he’s aware, none of the school board members were involved in the decision on the actions that were taken against Howard.

“Based on what I’ve read in the paper, I was extremely disappointed in his judgement. I’d like to talk to him and find out what he meant by it or whether that’s what he really said. But based on what I’ve seen in the paper, I would have a hard time not firing him. Then again, it almost sounds like he was misinterpreted. A gentleman I know said to me that he saw on national news a kid from the school said that the students knew he was just joking. I just need to have some more information,” said Johnson.

“The man needs to be fired. In this situation, the diversity training is the joke, because he’s already revealed to those kids what’s in his heart and there’s no training that’s going to change that,” said Allison Mitchell, of Campbellton.

Many residents say they’ll be attending the October meeting of the Jackson County School Board.

“My children are grown, but I still feel the need to go and do something about this,” said Dennis Crawford.

The meeting is set for Oct. 16, at 4 p.m. inside the Jackson County School Board office on Jefferson Street in Marianna.

Attempts to reach Danny Sims and Greg Howard on Friday and Saturday were not successful.