North Texas School Board Upholds Termination of Trump Tweeter
The Fort Worth ISD board ruled unanimously this week to fully terminate a teacher who tweeted to Trump asking him to remove the school's illegals.
Towards the end of the 2018/2019 school year, Carter-Riverside High School Georgia Clark tweeted to President Trump, mistakenly believing it was a private message, complaining about the number of illegal immigrants in the school district and asking Trump to help, even leaving her personal phone numbers. Parents and other educators said that Clark's comments created a hostile environment and a threat to students who are legally entitled to a public education despite their citizenship status, as ruled by the Supreme Court.
The board ruled unanimously to terminate Clark at that time, but Clark appealed the decision and the case was reviewed by an independent examiner who concluded that the school board did not have sufficient grounds to terminate Clark. As reported by Fox 4, the examiner noted that Clark's tweets constituted protected free speech, and there was not enough evidence to back up students' claims that Clark was racially insensitive, reportedly calling a student "nappy" and speaking negatively about people of color.
In a special hearing this week, the board once again voted on the employment status of Clark. Before voting, the board heard from 10 speakers about the case. One speaker, Waymond Brown, argued that Clark had clearly shown a bias against students of color,
There is no way in hell this woman should still be teaching on any level because she has already let you know she has a bias towards certain students.
Jowona Powell, whose daughter was the one Clark reportedly called "nappy", openly complained about the second chance Clark was given to appeal her termination,
You had your proof. You had the tweets. It shouldn’t have took this long. Anybody else, they would have been out without a second chance.
The board once again voted unanimously to terminate Clark. Clark now has the choice to appeal her termination directly with the Texas Education Agency.