US school teacher suspended for holding mock slave auction in class

A Boston area elementary school teacher has been suspended for holding a mock slave auction, using a racial slur and then punishing the student who reported it.

Gregory Martineau, superintendent of the Margaret A Neary school near Boston, apologized for the behavior of the teacher, saying that “holding a mock slave auction is unacceptable”.

“Simulations or role plays when teaching about historical atrocities or trauma are not appropriate,” Martineau wrote in a letter to parents. He said they “trivialize the experience of victims” and traumatized students who are racial minorities.

The teacher, who has not been named but works with students in fifth grade (the equivalent of year 6 in England), reportedly held the dramatized slave auction during a history lesson on the economy of the US southern colonies. The teacher also asked two children, both from racial minority backgrounds, to play enslaved people.

“The educator asked two children sitting in front of the room, who were of color, to stand, and the educator and class discussed physical attributes (i.e., teeth and strength),” Martineau wrote.

Months later, the same teacher said the N-word while reading aloud from a book – although that slur did not appear in the text. The student who reported the teacher’s behavior was later “inappropriately called out” by the educator.

Martineau said the response was “unacceptable” and told parents that dehumanizing words such as slurs should not be spoken by employees or students.

The Neary school principal, Kathleen Valenti, was also placed on paid leave for 10 days over “missteps in this process that further complicated the situation”.

The case in Neary is one of at least two high-profile instances of racism cited in Massachusetts grade schools in recent months.

In March, six eighth-grade (year 9) students from an elementary school in the town of Southwick were disciplined for creating a mock slave auction on the social media platform Snapchat.

Investigators said they were pursuing criminal charges against the teens for allegedly participating in “a hateful, racist online chat that included heinous language, threats and a mock slave auction”.

The six students were charged in juvenile court with interference with civil rights and other offenses.

“Hatred and racism have no place in this community,” said the local district attorney, Anthony Gulluni.

Gulluni said the alleged behavior of the six juveniles was “vile, cruel and contemptible” and “discouraging, unsettling and deeply frustrating”.