KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Community leaders call what they refer to as an emergency town hall meeting to discuss racism at a Kansas City charter school.
The Urban League of Kansas City, Urban Summit, SCLC-KC, Councilwoman Melissa Robinson, and others organized the meeting that will take place Wednesday, Dec. 7, at the Gregg Klice Community Center. The meeting begins at 6 p.m.
The community plans to discuss a high school teacher’s actions at University Academy. The teacher is accused of using the N-word in front of students multiple times last month. Someone recorded video of the teacher using the term.
FOX4 has seen the video in which the teacher said, “just like African Americans call themselves N****.”
In the video, the teacher said it was used in educational context saying, “It was said for the purpose of talking about empowerment. So you can either like it, not like it, be upset about it all you like, but ultimately this is a ridiculous conversation.”
Parents accuse University Academy administrators of failing to act and responded a few weeks after the video went viral.
University Academy released a statement to parents about the incident.
“Parents and Students, University Academy leadership is aware of the discussion that is reported to have occurred in a high school classroom over two weeks ago. Although we are limited in our comments while we look into the matter, the teacher in question has been placed on administrative leave. We recognize the community’s interest in such classroom discussions and share in the expectation for awareness and inclusivity in our schools.
While we continue investigating the situation and will address the matter in a manner consistent with our goal of ensuring a safe and secure learning environment for the children of our community.
We welcome any and all information you may have about this matter and ask that you come forward and provide all information you might have. It has been and will always be UA’s Mission to serve as positive role models and valuable members of the community for our students. To that end we will continue our commitment to maintaining a learning environment inclusive of all students.”
Parents, and the organizers of Wednesday night’s meeting say more needs to be done.
They hope to have a conversation about the use of the ‘N’ word and ways to strengthen policy responses to claims of racism in schools.
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