A teacher at Camden County High School is under investigation for allegedly making racist comments in a classroom.
“It is very disturbing,” said parent Kimberley Ashcraft.
Ashcraft told 10 On Your Side the disturbing incident happened a couple weeks ago. Her daughter told her about the conversation with math teacher Cynthia Ramsey.
“That’s when she conveyed to me that Mrs. Ramsey had indicated that if she only had 10 days to live that she would kill all black people,” Ashcraft told WAVY.com.
Ashcraft’s daughter was in Ramsey’s classroom eating lunch. Ashcraft said there were several others students around when Ramsey allegedly made the racist remarks.
“I was completely shocked,” Ashcraft said. “I asked her again, ‘are you sure that was what you heard?’ I could not have imagined a teacher saying that.”
School officials began an investigation, and even the Camden County Sheriff’s Office was called in to help. The sheriff told 10 On Your Side several of the students told the same story. Ramsey was placed on suspension with pay, and after a couple days was back in the classroom.
Look I usually am all about supporting teachers, but if this is true the teacher not only promoted racist ideas but also murder.
If I was a parent at this school I would instruct my child to stay far away from this teacher, and put quite a lot of time into trying to get her fired.
A teacher at my school was fired for stating far less. He fought it and lost. But it occurred in Ohio, not North Carolina.
ReplyDeleteYou bet it's taught. A personal confession, if you will:
ReplyDeleteI learned to read at four-years-old. When I was five, we were on vacation at my grandma's house and I caught the flu. My grandma had a bunch of children's books and brought them to me in bed, one of which was the original "Little Black Sambo." My dad came in to check on me at one point, I grabbed that book, opened it , and said, "look, Daddy, they spelled n*gger wrong." That was at FIVE years old. He would mention that memory often and laugh and laugh.
Fast forward 22 years when my children were smart-as-a-whip toddlers. We were talking on the phone about a televised football game we had watched and the word was used. I told him, "Dad, I'm an adult now with children of my own and I respectfully ask that you never use that word around them. You know it's wrong," and he never did.
That this woman is allowed to teach is disturbing.
Why not bring her back to the classroom, just lhate speech in front of young kids, what's the fucking problem.
ReplyDeleteAt least send this idiot to a week long sensitivity training. She's gonna learn nothing, and will hate every minute of it, but that's probably the best thing we could hope for
O/T, Newt (serial adulterer)Gingrich is now pandering full bore to the Christian Taliban fanatics
http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/president-gingrichs-first-order-business-would-be-call-nation-prayer
Oh, if I was elected President, I'd call the nation to prayer, cuz that is gonna solve all our problems.
Ok, Newt. You and $arah can keep dreaming that you have any chance of being the Prez
School district next to where I live, right over the river. Not from NC but taught in other district. NO BIG SURPRISE! 1st teacher come because they want jobs and many leave before the school has ended. Between Racism, poverty & the Republican Party of NC, ie Tom Tillis the NC State Schools are in total disarray. I taught in a large city school district in NY for 32 years & 8 in NC, I know what I speak of!
ReplyDeleteRamsey needs to be fired and institutionalized. She is dangerously sick.
ReplyDeleteI'm going to be skeptical about this. Were there other witnesses to this statement? This is a teacher whose been working for 14 years and now she says something that over-the-line?
ReplyDeleteIt could have happened like this, but teachers are very vulnerable to statements like this. If the teacher has a history or other reports from student unconnected to this girl come out, obviously I may have to renounce my skepticism, but first thought was "somebody doesn't like their math teacher."
If you read what Gryph posted from the actual article, "several of the students told the same story."
DeleteAs an educator myself, I am horrified that a teacher could say something like this in front of students (or anyone for that matter!).
DeleteHowever, I too wonder about the story. Either this was a case of a student (or multiple students) making false claims about a teacher they don't like
* OR *
this is a teacher with a history of blatant racism that has never been addressed before.
Not sure where you saw that she's been working for 14 years because I couldn't find it in any stories, but if that's true, I would be highly skeptical that she would have kept such an offensive point of view hidden for so long.
As for the short suspension, there are very specific processes that school districts have in place to deal with these kind of situations. Just because she may be back at work doesn't mean all is forgiven and forgotten.
I said, "students unconnected to this girl." Maybe I'm just more cynical about how teenagers behave.
ReplyDeleteIt's the fourteen years and suddenly she spouts something that over the line. The teacher has had hundreds of students in that time. This is a pretty radical statement to suddenly come out of someone's mouth in front of a group of students after teaching that long.
As I said, I may be proven wrong. My ego isn't wrapped up in this. But if this woman has had a sterling record until this incident, I am going remain skeptical.
I am from New York City, and my immediate response to this was to assume it was heavy sarcasm. Then I saw it was North Carolina, and I immediately assumed utter racism.
ReplyDeleteThe "South", you know.
On reflection, I'm thinking I might have to examine my own prejudices, and wait for the results of the investigation.
What age, race and sex are those students? It could be a bunch of mean girls ganging up on a teacher. Plenty of kids know what kind of remark will cause supervisory controversy....
ReplyDeleteWell the obvious recourse should be to arm this teacher.
ReplyDeleteBut ina ll seriousness, those of you doubting the teacher said this are out of your freaking minds. I have had racism and nasty remarks thrown at me from people in every walk in life since I was a small child. I'd still be filling out paperwork if I had reported everyone. You think because more things haven't been reported it's not true? I'm betting you are all white? I suppose if you stay inside and don't go outside all day you wouldn't believe the sun came up either?
The comments claiming to doubt the reports of several high school students make me....sad.
ReplyDeleteChildren sometimes lie. Children are sometimes pressured by their peers to lie. Spend some time in a high school (or elementary or middle school) classroom and you might not be so quick to assume that these kids are telling the absolute truth. I've seen students deny that they've stolen something from a classmate when they're holding the object in their hand and were seen taking it by the entire class.
DeleteI'm not saying that these particular students are definitely lying; just that there needs to be a thorough investigation. If this teacher is truly racist to this degree and has been teaching more than a couple of years, there will no doubt be more evidence of her offensive behavior uncovered through an investigation.
On the other hand, sometimes the best teachers are targeted by students because they also have the highest standards and expectations. I have heard of instances where students at the middle school level deliberately blow the state tests because they knew that those test scores would affect that teacher's evaluation and pay. At the same time, there is NO consequence for the student who intentionally flunks a state test. They still pass the class and are promoted as long as the rest of their grades are passing and their attendance passes the minimum.
All I'm saying is that there should be no assumptions on either side. This incident should be thoroughly investigated and, if this woman did actually say what has been claimed, she should receive a much harsher punishment than a couple of days off with pay.
Let's just wait to see what facts come out before we assume we know what the truth really is.
The worse racism I ever heard from a fellow teacher in France was not in front of students. It was only destinated to me : "Black people are all very fine, but would you want your son to grow up and marry a black woman ?" to which I dazedly answered "Er ... my kindergardener's girlfriend happens to actually be black ?".
ReplyDeleteTo be fair, a black coworker has repeatedly said she didn't want her kids to marry any other than black people, and we told her "you just wait and see".
I'm sure if a teacher made such comments in a French classroom, there would be a huge outcry and the teacher would be fired - which would be huge, since only a crime gets a teacher fired in France.
But then, "calling for racial hatred" or "calling for murder" is legislated against here, like "yelling fire in a theater" is legislated against in the US.
Camden County is a very poor, mostly black district in New Jersey. Keeping this racist bitch on the payroll is rubbing salt into the wound, over and over again. You can bet your bottom dollar that any and all letters written to Governor Christies office will be looked at, re looked at, then tossed in the shredder with nothing done to help the problem. Unfortunately, a lot of parents in Camden are on the edge of their seats when it comes to keeping their jobs and can't afford to take off and picket, and most in the school board are just as racist as this "educator".
ReplyDelete