DISTRICT PROMISES BETTER SUB TRAINING IN WAKE OF MOCK SLAVE AUCTION AT JEFFERSON SCHOOL

The school district responded to Wednesday's story about a mock slave auction in a fifth-grade class at Jefferson School with a lengthy explanation that stressed the incident was not a planned assignment. 

It also supported the actions of the teacher, who was out that day and informed parents through a letter. But District Spokeswoman Suzanne Turner indicated that since a substitute teacher was involved, the district would "look again at training and improved supervisory protocols for substitutes."

See the original story HERE.

See the entire statement issued Wednesday evening from Turner below:

We note that you posted a story about this less than an hour after 

asking for a comment, on a day you know the district to be closed.

The letter from the teacher speaks for itself. The activity was not 

part of the curriculum, not part of the teacher's assignment, 

not condoned by the teacher, not authorized by the district.

The culminating assignment for the Colonial America unit in 

this teacher's class was to choose a colony to research and then 

create a PowerPoint presentation with a partner about that colony. 

Students submitted their plan to the teacher, signed off on by their 

parents. At no point was an enactment of a slave auction proposed 

as part of any student's plan.  The projects were due on the day that 

the teacher was out, and nothing should have been added during 

the school day.

Upon hearing about the impromptu re-enactment and video while 

she was out, the teacher proactively reached out to parents to 

inform them not only of what had happened, but also how she was 

addressing this with students. Her letter shows that she took the 

incident seriously, addressed the "impact it had upon the students,"
the "gravity of this part in our history," and connected it to a 

larger discussion about social justice. She asked for partnership 

from families in helping reinforce these messages at home as well.

Given that this happened while a substitute teacher was supervising 

the class, administrators will look again at training and improved 

supervisory protocols for substitutes.

I ask that you post this entire email, so that your readers can see 

the timeline of your request for comment, and can reflect on the 

tone of your post in the circumstances. 

Thank you.

Suzanne M. Turner
Director of Strategic Communications
South Orange Maplewood School District