Running head: ARTIFACT 2 1

Artifact #2

Cody Koslowski

College of Southern Nevada

February 13, 2019

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The incident that happened with Ann Griffin and her Principle and Assistant principle

Freddie Watts, and Jimmy Brothers was a very unfortunate event. What happened? During a

heated argument the teacher screamed that she “Hated all black folks”. And of course, there is

never a time or place to say something such as this. Following this incident, the Tenure teacher

was then released from teaching at the school that is a predominantly black school. Now the

discussion is How the court will rule this case. But first I will give both sides of the arguments.

First, I will be defending on why it was right for the teacher to be fired from the school

for this racial saying. To start off this is a white female teacher that teaches in a school that has

mainly black students. The reasoning for the teacher to be fired was because the principle and

assistant principle after hearing the teacher say this felt that she was racist and would teach the

kids that were not white unfairly. And I believe that this is beyond good reason for a teacher to

be fired. Even if that teacher is under Tenure. Tenure protects teachers from being unjustly fired

by the school. In this specific case the teacher had blurted out a racial slur that could propose that

she is racist and will treat her black students differently than the white students. Some may say

that if a teacher is under tenure they can not be fired, this statement is false. Tenure is essentially

a contract between the teacher and the school. And like any contract if it is broken there are

consequences. A tenure teacher can be fire for “incompetence, insubordination, immorality,

moral turpitude or neglect of duty.” https://work.chron.com/can-tenured-teacher-fired-missing-

work-10619.html . And this clearly falls under that saying.

A case that I would like to bring up to support the teacher being fired is a case that was

back in 2016. The teachers last name was Lincoln and he had played a video that said the N-
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word multiple times. This video was not permitted by the school and the teacher was put on a

suspension without pay. So essentially this teacher has been fired. The teacher in this case had

tired to appeal this but the appeals court had denied it. Showing that the government does not

support this and is a fire able situation if a teacher blurts out racial slurs. Even though the teacher

didn’t physical say this he was still put on suspension and was later fired. In this case the teacher

did say it so I believe that she should be fired. Walsh, Mark. June (2016) Education week

http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/school_law/2016/06/appeals_court_upholds_suspensi.html

Now the other side to the argument, why this teacher shouldn’t be fired. Personally, from

my opinion I can not give many reasons on why this teacher should not be fired. The one that I

think is the best is that the teacher could take this to a court. Now why would she do this? The

only people that heard the teacher say this were the Principle and his assistant, who are both

African American. She could argue the fact that the two men had lied just to get her fired. And

who knows, this could be true. Another way that the teacher could fight this is to say that though

she may hate “black folk” does not mean that this would affect that way she treats her students.

A lot of people have hate towards different things. Yes, it was wrong for the teacher to blatantly

say this out look to a black administration. But overall it is not the school’s business.

Looking at court cases it was hard for me to find one that fit exactly in to this certain

situation. I could not find a court case that related exactly like the one in this situation. But the

case I did find is Givhan v. Western Line Consolidated School District. The overview of this

case was the teacher was in talks about the segregation in Mississippi schools and the principle

had become worried and called up in the board and had that teacher fired. Bessie Givhan Then
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repealed this in the court after her first court case was overturned. After the second Appeal it was

granted that her first Amendment had been broken so she was able to get her job back. Wikipedia

contributors. (2018, October 18). Givhan v. Western Line Consolidated School District. In

Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 03:54, February 14, 2019,

As a surprise to me I have changed my mind on how I felt about this case. Originally, I

thought that it was right for the teacher to be fired for her racial slur. But based on the court cases

I have read I believe that this teacher was unjustly fired by the school district. In the second court

case that I read if the conversation was in private it would be breaking the teachers First

Amendment. So, I think that this teacher should not have been fired and if this case went to court

that it would be over ruled.

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References

Walsh, Mark. June (2016) Education week

http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/school_law/2016/06/appeals_court_upholds_suspensi.ht

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Wikipedia contributors. (2018, October 18). Givhan v. Western Line Consolidated School

District. In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 03:54, February 14, 2019,