.jpg;w=960)
St. Vrain Valley School District is investigating a video of a teacher at Westview Middle School saying a racial slur while discussing racism with a student.
The teacher, who the Longmont Leader is not identifying by name due to the circumstances of the incident, says the N-word four times throughout the five minute and 34 second video posted Saturday by an apparent student through an anonymous account on TikTok.
St. Vrain spokesperson Kerri McDermid confirmed on Monday that the district was aware of the situation and investigating, adding that because it is a personnel matter few details could be shared. The teacher depicted in the video did not respond to an emailed request for comment.
While the video doesn’t capture the incident on screen, the teacher can be heard using the N-word to explain to a student why her language among her friend group made up of Hispanic students would be considered racist.
“What happens if a white dude calls an African American a n—?” the teacher said at the beginning of the video, agreeing with the student that it would be racist.
The teacher and student go back and forth on what constitutes racism, before the teacher repeats the slur.
“That is why me calling an African American a n— is racist,” the teacher said.
The student went on to express discontent with how the situation with her friends was handled, arguing that her use of the word “beaner” wasn't offensive in the context of the conversation.
“It’s not whether somebody is offended or not,” the teacher said. “It’s about whether or not a group of people can say things toward another group of people based on the color of their skin. That’s what it’s about. Because the n—, the n—, see I was just racist — because a black person calling another black person the N-word, that’s not racism, but as soon as a white person does it, that’s racism. Okay? Because we are treating each other differently based on the color of your skin. That there by definition is racism.”
McDermid said all district staff are expected to follow the school board’s code of conduct. She added that as the investigation is ongoing, there was no outcome as of Monday.
The caption of the TikTok video also claimed that the school was suspending students for having the video, but McDermid said that was not true. The TikTok video had over 3,500 views as of Tuesday.
