In Houston County, a group of teachers is in hot water for a text message thread that mocked students, talked about their sex life and used at least one racial slur.
The Ashford High School teachers had their text message group that was self-titled “Bad Ass Bitches” group exposed when a teacher allowed a student to use her phone during school hours. The student found the group, screen recorded the messages and posted their messages to social media.
The teachers allegedly discussed if one student was pregnant, called a number of students dumb and one message used the “n-word” to describe an alum of the school.
The teachers have been suspended but have not been named due to “the nature of how the texts were leaked and possible legal ramifications associated with it.”
Students and parents are pretty upset about this, and rightfully so.
The aunt of the student who was called the “n-word” responded by saying, “Two of the teachers that’s in the group chat, I can’t believe that they was actually in the group chat because I’d never think they’ll be like that, but the other ones, I think they’ll do it.”
But I want to take a step back and ask one question: Would this story be getting this amount of coverage had the “n-word” not been used?
Let’s be honest. Teachers probably talk about their students all the time; they probably do it in text threads and email chains, but when they become public people are going to get burned.
It’s no secret that I was not the best student in high school. I went to school long before group chats were a thing, but I can almost guarantee there were some water cooler conversations about how dumb I was.
Would a story about teachers crudely discussing their students be a national thing? Would BET be reporting on this story had the “n-word” not been used? Probably not.
I’m not saying any of this is right, but clearly we need some more information. Most importantly, we need to know the identity (and races) of these teachers.
Like it or not, the “n-word” being used by a black teacher about black students is bad, but a white teacher saying it about a black student is exponentially worse.
Should these teachers be fired? With the information we have, I am not sure we can make that decision.
And despite the fact that I am not in the field of education, let me educate you on this: If you are a teacher with messages about your students, delete them.
While we wait to find out some more important details on this story, I’ve spent most of this morning clearing out my texts, and so should you.
Dale Jackson is a contributing writer to Yellowhammer News and hosts a talk show from 7-11 am weekdays on WVNN
