Teacher placed on leave over ‘mock slave auction’ in classroom

A fifth-grade teacher in Massachusetts who held a “mock slave auction” and used a racial slur in a classroom has been placed on paid administrative leave, the district superintendent said.

The teacher, who has not been publicly identified, held the mock auction in January during a history lesson on the economy of Southern colonies, the superintendent of Public Schools of Northborough and Southborough, Gregory Martineau, said in a letter to parents dated May 29.

During the lesson, the teacher “asked two children sitting in front of the room, who were of color, to stand,” Martineau said, and the class discussed physical attributes, including teeth and strength.

In April, the same teacher read a book to the class that was not included in the core curriculum, and used a racial slur that did not appear in the book while doing so, he said.

“Holding a mock slave auction is unacceptable,” Martineau wrote, noting that doing so violated the school district’s values.

He said that he learned of both episodes from parents April 24.

The parents of students in the class met with both the teacher and principal, he said, without specifying when. He noted that the day after the meeting, “the educator inappropriately called out the student who had reported the educator’s use of the racial slur, which is not acceptable.”

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