PENSACOLA, Fla. – A Florida school district is responding after a teacher quit when he said the district made him take down pictures of famous African-Americans from his classroom.
In a statement, the Escambia County Public Schools district said that the teacher, Michael James, was never told he could not have the pictures in his classroom at O.J. Semmes Elementary School in Pensacola.
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The district said it sent a Board Certified Behavior Analyst and Behavior Coach to help James get ready for school on Monday, because James had a special assignment of teaching Autism Spectrum Disorder students.
They said James’s room was set up in a more traditional classroom configuration and needed to be changed to be more academically sound for his assignment.
The district said the pictures of the famous African-Americans were on a bulletin board directly behind his teaching area, which the district said, “needed to be dedicated to state-required curricular materials he would need to engage this specific group of students in their daily learning and development activities.”
The district said the Behavior Analyst asked if the posters could be removed, and James responded, “Yes, do whatever needs to be done.”
According to the Pensacola News Journal, James said staff members removed the pictures because they were not age appropriate.
The district employees in the room with James said they were “astounded” by his allegations.
The district said it has reached out to James many times since he resigned but have not heard back. They said they would have worked with the teacher had he raised concerns when the pictures were taken down.