Michael Brown Shooting Reenactment In Class Gets Teacher Suspended

A sixth grade teacher was suspended for having students reenact the Michael Brown shooting in the classroom. The Brantley Elementary School teacher in Alabama allegedly had the white students “play the police officer” Darren Wilson in the Ferguson shooting, and the black children play Brown, according to student accounts shared by parents.

The teacher who instructed her students to participate in the Mike Brown shooting reenactment also had the children search the internet to discover how many times, and where, the 18-year-old black teenager was shot. Details about the Brantley Elementary School sixth-grade teacher’s actions became public after parent Jessica Baughn posted what her son had told her on a community Facebook page.

The Dallas County Schools parent posted this on Facebook about the Michael Brown shooting reenactment by students:

“I am absolutely shocked by what my 6th grade child come home telling me that happened in school. His teacher made them reenact the two current shooting of the young black male’s That is absurd to me then you turn around and make them reenact every bit of it including the shooting. Then sit in class and tells them our black children cannot walk in their own neighborhood without white people shooting them and she hated to sound racist but whatever. Sounds like someone’s racist to me, and to me they are teaching these children to hate one another when we’re supposed to be teaching them to love one another.”

Dallas County Schools Superintendent Don Willingham said he spoke with the Brantley Elementary School principal and the teacher about the incident, during an interview with the Selma Times-Journal. The teacher had allegedly been conducting a lesson on current events when one student supposedly brought up the Mike Brown shooting in Ferguson.

Superintendent Willingham also said that the sixth-grade class performed a “skit” but did not elaborate about whose idea the Ferguson shooting reenactment was or what the classroom exercise involved. “We wish the conversation didn’t have to take place, but it’s been reported to us and we’re addressing it as quick as we can. I did put the teacher on administrative leave with pay, because we wanted to do the investigation. It’s standard procedure,” the Alabama school official added.

Brantley Elementary School students are also being interviewed about the Michael Brown shooting reenactment. Principal Audrey Strong said, “We do recognize diversity, but we do not support division. Our culture is a strong culture.”

What do you think about the Alabama sixth-grade teacher instructing students to reenact the Mike Brown shooting in the classroom?

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