On November 18, 2020, leadership of Arlington NAACP was made aware of a disturbing incident involving an Arlington Public School (APS) teacher at H-B Woodlawn who mocked the murder of George Floyd in a chemistry class exercise online. We are deeply disturbed by the racist and callous nature in which the murder of George Floyd was devalued by a public-school teacher to students. We are pleased that the principal took swift action to notify families and meet with affected students and that the Superintendent followed up with a letter to APS families with an honest depiction that did not minimize the significance or harm it caused.
This act of racial violence is the latest and most egregious in a progressive pattern of racist incidents occurring within our schools. We are monitoring these cases and expect that the Superintendent and his leadership team will follow through with appropriate and decisive action involving the teacher, as well as a plan to cultivate an anti-racist culture within APS that will allow students of color to thrive in an emotionally safe learning environment.