Haitians ask for answers as teacher probe continues
PALM BEACH GARDENS — James Leger’s phone keeps ringing. But it’s not the call he’s looking for.
Leger, a local Haitian radioshow host, said that after he organized a demonstration outside Palm Beach Gardens High School to protest a teacher’s recent comment about Haiti, families have called him daily to share how their children have faced discrimination.
“This is what my children possibly can go through?” said one caller, identified as Naomi Blemur. “It’s abhorrent. It’s unacceptable.”
Leger listens. He sympathizes. And he, and the families calling, wait for the apology they asked for May 11 outside the school.
Palm Beach County School District officials are conducting an investigation after an unidentified teacher made “potentially inappropriate” comments to a student May 4. The district would not identify what the comment was.
A video circulating online shows a teacher warning students not to walk out of class before school ends. The teacher then speaks to a girl in the classroom to ask whether she understood his instruction.
“It’s called a door, and let me show you how it works,” the video reports the teacher as saying. “Now I don’t know where it works where you’re from, down in some Third World island country where they don’t got them, but let me show you what it’s like in America.”
Leger said nobody from the School District has reached out to him since May 10, the day before his demonstration. He’s still waiting to get in touch.
A district spokeswoman said the school principal, Larry Clawson, met with the student’s family on May 7 and tried to give the family an update on May 10, when he learned the family had reached out to the media. The district does not expect a resolution on the issue for several more days.
Leger said if the district does not give an update or apology soon, he plans to put together another demonstration outside the school.
He doesn’t want the teacher fired because Leger said all his experience shouldn’t go down the drain from one incident. Still, Leger said he wants the teacher to apologize in public — something not just for the student but for the Haitian community at large.
“If they’re going to put this teacher back in the classroom, we deserve an apology,” Leger said.
He hopes the school will have a meeting with teachers to discuss the incident and how they should behave.
On Thursday, Leger took calls on his radio show, switching from Creole to English as he and callers discussed next steps.
Blemur said during her call-in that she hopes to see the teacher fired and said the community needs to unite around it.
“You have to pluck it out at root,” she said. “You cut it off and you let people know this can never happen again,” she said.
When one caller began by yelling in Creole, Leger disconnected the call. He said there’s no use in anger. He just wants an apology from the teacher.
Another caller, Yanathan, said he wants the teacher to apologize for making assumptions about people from Haiti. He said they’re not animals without doors. They’re teachers, doctors and lawyers. They pay taxes. They add value to the country.
In the studio, Leger and others nodded and murmured in agreement.
As he closed off his call, with the question of their plans still hanging in the air, Yanathan offered a farewell.
“Happy Haitian Heritage Month,” he said.