A Klein Independent School District teacher has resigned after he was allegedly caught on tape making racial and homophobic comments with students in his class.
During a news conference Wednesday, activist Quanell X, along with Klein ISD parents, said the district did not take immediate action to respond to a video recording, which contained racist and homophobic comments from a Klein Collins High School theater arts teacher a week before it was surfaced.
Quanell X said the words “serve as offensive and disrespect” to Blacks, Hispanics and Indigenous people.
“Mr. G., your words are an insult to every Black student, Latino student and Indigenous people,” he said. “You attempted to intimidate these students by saying things that are outright disrespectful.”
The video reportedly showed the teacher making a racial slur with his students, followed by a rant on U.S. history, Quanell X said.
Quanell X said he was quoting the teacher in the video when he said that “there is no proof that Native Americans inherited the country.”
“This man is unfit, unqualified to be a teacher,” he said. “What I want to know is if there will be an investigation open to see what kind of grades he gave. Because if you have that kind racist mindset, who knows what you’re doing in your grade book.”
Some parents who were at the news conference said that they gave the district a “chance to make it right,” but nothing was done.
Klein ISD has issued a statement saying:
“In Klein ISD, we pride ourselves in our ability to create safe spaces for every child in our schools where positive learning experiences occur with our teachers teaching the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills. Unfortunately, this did not occur in this teacher’s classroom. At this time, I can tell you that this individual is no longer employed in Klein ISD.
This incident does not reflect our district shared vision, our employees, or anything about Klein ISD. We regret that our students were impacted by this language, and if any of them would like to talk to any of our counselors, we will make them available.
Every child deserves to feel safe and have a positive learning experience at school. We are deeply sorry that this former employee failed to do this for our students.”
View the statement read by Dayna Hernandez, Klein ISD Associate Superintendent for Communications and Public Relations.
View Quanell X’s Wednesday news conference below which does include sensitive language. Viewer discretion is advised.