U.D. schools continue to cut ties with former teacher in racist tirade
UPPER DARBY » Renee Greeley, the former Drexel Hill Middle School teacher who resigned after she was caught on camera in a racially charged confrontation with a parent, continues to lose out with her former employer.
Though the school board approved her Oct. 17 resignation during a special voting session on Oct. 22, the board had other matters to consider at their Nov. 12 meeting, which included cutting her supplemental contracts worth almost $6,000.
The board approved deleting Greeley from her seventh grade girls basketball, seventh grade field hockey and seventh grade baseball coaching duties for a total of $5,610.90 in extra pay in her addition to her former teaching salary. The board also amended her services as the tech services coordinator and TV studio producer for pro-rated compensation of $252 and $12, far below the previously approved rates of $1,720 and $860 she would have otherwise received for the year.
Greeley was caught on a cell phone viceo recorded by a Drexel Hill parent in the school’s parking lot after a slight fender bender the morning of Oct. 10. Greeley told the African American parent that he was probably on welfare and at one point used the N-word slur in the heated exchange.
The district responded immediately to the racially-charged argument by placing her on administrative leave that day. Her resignation was immediately effective a week later.
“I want to make it clear that we do not condone or support the comments or actions of the teacher in question,” Upper Darby Superintendent Dan McGarry said at the time.
In the video that lasts just over 90 seconds Greeley is seen arguing with the parent after a supposed minor accident between their vehicles on the morning of Oct. 10. At different points throughout the video, Greeley, a white woman, allegedly says the parent is on welfare and should “go back to your Section 8 house.”
“I do not want this incident to define who we are. Instead, I would like for all of us to use this unfortunate incident as a teaching tool to authentically reflect on the harm caused by such hurtful words and actions,” McGarry said previously. “We should turn our attention on having productive conversations with one another, with our children, and with our neighbors about being inclusive and respectful of one another. We need to discuss what this really means and looks like.
“People are watching how we respond to this. Our diversity is beautiful, and it is a source of pride. It is our strength and should unify us, not divide us.”