Schools are supposed to provide a safe environment in which children from every cultural and economic background can have access to an education and grow into the adults they are eventually supposed to become.
That’s the intention anyway. If we’re being honest, that isn’t always how it plays out.
Teachers are regular people, and most regular people have political opinions.
The important thing is that teachers treat their students equally and fairly despite cultural, economic, and political differences.
When you let your personal biases enter the classroom, you are placing importance on prejudice over your job, and over the lives of children whom you promised to protect.
And when we say children, we mean all children.
That includes undocumented immigrants.
Unless someone is working as a border patrol agent, they don’t have the right to decide who does and doesn’t get to stay in this country, and by proxy, who has a right to an education here.
One Texas high school teacher disagreed, and took it upon herself to—in her own words—”drain the swamp.”
Georgia Clark, a teacher at Carter-Riverside High School , disagreed with the fact that some of her students were allegedly undocumented.
In an effort to do something about these immigrant students, she took to social media.
She used her twitter account to release private information about the students in the hopes that the authorities would deport them.
Clark sent a series of tweets to President Trump.
“Mr. President, Forth Worth Independent School District is loaded with illegal immigrants from Mexico,” Clark’s May 17th tweet reads, “Carter-Riverside High School has been taken over by them. Drug dealers are on our campus and nothing was done to them when the drug dogs found the evidence.”
A few of the tweets included home phone numbers of the students.
The numbers have since been changed and/or disconnected.
Another one of Clark’s tweets read: “My prayers were answered. Drain that swamp and the sooner the better.”
Former teachers from the high school are appalled.
“I’m shocked. I worked at a high school in Fort Worth with a very high percentage of undocumented students,” the teacher stated, “These kids worked very hard to create a better life here for themselves, many of mine obtaining scholarships at university for engineering, business, and medical degrees. I am disheartened to hear an educator would use their position as a political platform to promote hate and discrimination.”
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“I love my students, not because of who they are or where they were born, but because of who they have become.”
Representatives from the school’s administration have released a statement regarding Clark’s actions:
In the past 24 hours, there has been much talk in the news and on the Internet about the use of social media by our staff.Let me reiterate our commitment that every child in the District is welcome and is to be treated with dignity and respect. As we conclude the school year this Friday, please know we take this promise very seriously and your child’s safety and well-being are always our number-one priority.
Many people on Twitter have responded to Clark’s now-deleted tweets.
Most expressed their disbelief that an actual teacher could do something like this to her own students, while others simply outright stated that they feel Clark doesn’t deserve to hold her teaching position anymore.
However, there are some to appear to support Clark’s actions and have defended her.
One user expressed her support and insisted the teacher has the right to her own opinion.
In addition to having deleted the tweets, Clark’s Twitter account appears to have also been deactivated.
Clark has also been placed on administrative leave.
“We have placed the teacher on administrative leave with pay,” stated Clint Bond, a communications executive at the district, “The district continues to review its options in this matter.”
It is unclear whether Clark will be returning to her position.
h/t: Yahoo Lifestyle
