Roommates, Birmingham, Michigan teacheris subject to disciplinary action and is on administrative leave after giving Roeper students a worksheet entitled “Maps, Monkeys and Lemurs: An Introduction to Primates”.
As we reported earlier, in a table released last week, former US President Barack Obama compared it to primates. The school circulated a statement to CNN condemning the actions of an unnamed biology teacher. “The teacher’s choice to use a curriculum with an alarming racial offense … was not in line with the school’s mission and philosophy,” Roper’s school said.
“We sincerely apologize for its use and the damage it has caused,” the statement said. “Although the teacher took responsibility and admitted a mistake that did not properly check the resource, we know this is not enough and she was placed on administrative leave until further notice.”
CNN also received a copy of a letter that school principal David Feldman sent home to Roper’s parents on May 17, sincerely regretting the use of the worksheet and the damage done to it. The letter said: “We speak of our commitment to do important work to educate ourselves and the community in diversity, justice, inclusion and justice, but in this regard we have not met our core values.”
Continued: “Our students deserve to be taught in a safe environment and where they are treated with dignity. And our adults should continue to model how to listen when a community member is offended, apologize if necessary, and take steps to prevent this from happening again. ” CNN claims that the worksheet is taken from an assignment for Duke University students published on the Anthropological School website. The Roeper School plans to immediately implement a curriculum and professional development focused on racial bias and cultural competencies.
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