Teacher Suspended After Racist Tweets Proving Twitter Is Good For Something

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A Texas teacher was suspended without pay pending discharge following an incident of sending out racist Tweets about the recent incidents in Ferguson, Missouri. I was horrified when I read about this but also, thought to myself how stupid this teacher was to spout her racist nonsense on social media. Clearly, she knows it could cause her to lose her job and also, lets everyone know what a racist piece of scum she is. However, this just makes life easier for parents in the district so the racist educators can be rooted out and removed. It’s awful to see but I suppose it’s better than the teachers remaining employed regardless of the racist thoughts they may be thinking while imparting wisdom on our children.

Her Twitter account has since been removed but CNN has the details:

Vinita Hegwood, a high school English teacher at Duncanville High School near Dallas, allegedly sent the tweets from her personal Twitter account Friday.

“Who the (expletive) made you dumb (expletive) crackers think I give a squat (expletive) about your opinions. #Ferguson Kill yourselves,” read one of the messages.

Later that evening another tweet appeared, saying, “You exhibit nigga behavior, I’m a call you a nigga. You acting crackerish, I’m a call you a cracker.” Hegwood is African-American.

And she’s been teaching the youth of America, folks. This is awful but undoubtedly, teachers with racist or otherwise unsavory viewpoints on various issues have existed since the dawn of time. However, they were tougher to spot before the advent of social media. Now, if a teacher has a momentary lapse of judgment and decides to show their true colors via social media channels, the entire world can see it and justice can be done.

One could argue for free speech and the fact that what this teacher does on her personal time should not affect her job security but this incident is, of course, too much to ignore. It is heartening to see the school’s administrators feeling that way:

Lari Barager, Duncanville Independent School District spokeswoman, called the messages “offensive” and “reprehensible” and stressed the tweets do not represent the 240 other teachers at Duncanville High School.

The swiftness and severity with which administrators acted demonstrate how seriously they view the incident, Barager said. It’s rare to be suspended without pay, the fullest disciplinary action allowed under district policy, she said.

Hegwood began meeting with administrators Monday at 7:15 a.m. By 8:30 a.m., “there was a conclusion and this decision had been made,” Barager said.

District employees do have the right to free speech, Barager said, but Hegwood’s comments were so egregious, the school was left with “no other option.”

Of course they had to take action as one could only imagine the backlash had they not but I still commend the school for making no bones about the fact that they would not accept a school employee behaving this way. I would like to thank Hegwood for being stupid enough to let her racist flag fly so no more students will be taught by this teacher with terrible judgment.

(Image: archideaphoto/Shutterstock)

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