A middle school teacher has resigned from her job after allegedly calling a Muslim seventh grader a “terrorist.”
The incident reportedly occurred on Jan. 16 at Central Dauphin Middle School in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania when the Palestinian American student asked his teacher for permission to change seats, to which the teacher responded “I don’t negotiate with terrorists,” according to NBC4.
The Central Dauphin School District was made aware of the incident and opened an investigation.
The Philadelphia chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations called on the district to “depart ways with this teacher.”
The school district said in a Tuesday statement that the teacher submitted her resignation, NBC News reported. The district approved the resignation.
Adam Rahman, the student’s father, said in a news conference on Monday that the boy is doing okay but will always remember the incident and wonder if another teacher will make similar comments.
Rahman also said his family has experienced other “red flags” with the school district, and this incident was the “tipping point.”
The boy’s father demanded the district makes its education more inclusive. Activists also advocated for cultural sensitivity and anti-bias training.
“What meaningful, concrete steps will Central Dauphin School District take to educate its teachers and community about Muslim, Arab, Palestinian, and Lebanese communities?” CAIR-Philadelphia, the Harrisburg Palestine Coalition and the Rahman family said in a joint statement. “We are following procedures at Pennsylvania Department of Education to ensure (the teacher’s) racism is known and she faces the appropriate consequences, so no other student, fellow teacher, parent, or administrator is harmed by her.”
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