Teacher’s ‘racist zoom rant’ overheard by student’s family after she forgets to end call
Video ‘clearly shows that unequal educational experiences for minority students exist,’ attorney says
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Your support makes all the difference.The mother of a 12-year-old boy in California is seeking damages after she recorded her son’s teacher going on racist rant about her family after forgetting to end a zoom teaching session, reports say.
Katura Stokes said her young son’s science teacher, Kimberly Newman, scheduled a Zoom session on 20 January after her son struggled to complete class assignments via distance learning.
Following the Zoom call, the mother said the science teacher proceeded to launch into a racist and expletive-filled rant after she forgot to end the session.
Ms Stokes pulled out her camera to record the rant, which reportedly lasted longer than 30 minutes as the teacher apparently complained to her husband.
"She’s answered her phone for the first time the entire year," the teacher says of Ms Stokes, according to the video obtained by The Orange County Register.
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"I mean these parents, that’s what kind of piece of s**t they are," Ms Newman reportedly says, adding: "Black. He’s Black. They’re a Black family."
The teacher reportedly continued: "Your son has learned to lie to everybody and make excuses ... to be a child.”
She added: "Since you’ve taught him to make excuses that nothing is his fault. This is what Black people do."
Following the incident earlier this year Ms Stokes filed a damage claim on Thursday on behalf of her son against the Palmdale School District, The County Register reported.
The Washington Post reported that Ms Stokes said Ms Newman continued to rant about her family until she called the school principal to alert the school to the ongoing incident.
The teacher from Desert Willow Fine Arts, Science and Technology Magnet Academy in Palmdale, California, was said to have been placed on administrative leave the same day as the incident.
David Garcia, a spokesman with the Palmdale School District told The Post that the teacher then resigned from her position days later and refused to cooperate with district officials.
The teacher declined to comment when reached by phone on Thursday by The Orange Register. The Post was unable to reach Ms Newman for comment.
“We do not stomach racist behavior at the Palmdale School District, whether you are caught on video or not,” Mr Garcia told the newspaper.
Neil Gehlawat, an attorney representing Ms Stoke said the video "clearly shows that unequal educational experiences for minority students exist.”
"Ms Stokes reached out for help - and, in return, she discovered that her son was being treated unfairly because of the colour of his skin."
Additional reporting by the Associated Press
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