Teacher fired after telling class he’s racist in recording
Teacher fired after telling class he’s racist in recording
The school district fired the teacher after first placing him on administrative leave.
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The school district fired the teacher after first placing him on administrative leave. (KEYE, PHONE AUDIO, CNN)
By KEYE Staff
Published: Nov. 16, 2022 at 2:55 AM EST|Updated: 10 hours ago
PFLUGERVILLE, Texas (KEYE) - A Texas middle school teacher has been fired after he allegedly admitted to his class that he’s a racist and made racist comments.
Karmello Luellen, a 13-year-old who is Black, attends Bohls Middle School in the Pflugerville Independent School District. He says he asked his teacher to use the restroom, and the teacher told him “no because he’s a racist.”
“I said I am a racist. That’s what I said,” the teacher said.
Shocked by his remarks, the eighth grader pulled out his phone and started recording the conversation.
“Do you want to know what that means?” the teacher said in the recording. “It means deep down in my heart, I think my race is the superior race. That’s what it means to be a racist.”
Karmello says the comments made him mad and caused him to lose respect for the teacher.
“I don’t really respect him no more because, like, why would you just say that to kids?” he said.
The teen also says this isn’t the first time the teacher displayed racist behavior.
Karmello’s mother, Janae Hardy, says if that’s how the teacher feels, he chose the wrong profession. She’s also concerned with how the district handled the incident.
“The school never contacted me. I had to go to the school… to find out everything. I saw it for the first time on the news,” she said.
She says communication about the situation should have been better from the district. District leaders say they sent letters to parents, stating in part, “This incident does not align with our core beliefs as a district.”
The district fired the teacher Monday after first placing him on administrative leave.
Hardy says she’s proud of how Karmello handled himself.
“I’ve always taught my kids to have a voice and say how they feel, and I’ve always taught them about certain situations, if it ever came about, so he knew how to handle it,” she said.
Karmello himself has advice for others that may find themselves in a similar situation.
“You just stay strong. Stay strong,” he said.
Karmello says he told the school about past incidents with the teacher, but no action was taken until the video he recorded went viral on social media.
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