Teachers resign after immigration remarks

Two DeKalb County teachers have resigned after making disparaging statements about illegal immigration, district officials said Tuesday.

According to district officials, Diane Clark resigned effective Nov. 28 and Susan Petre resigned effective Dec. 1. Both had taught at Cross Keys High School. The resignations were “in lieu of termination,” district officials said.

Both teachers were removed from their classrooms on Nov. 10 pending investigations into claims that they made statements about illegal immigrants tied to Donald Trump’s election as president Nov. 8.

Information from the district’s investigations was not available Tuesday.

“In accordance with established protocol, we began an investigation ... when the allegations were brought to our attention,” district officials said at the time.

Several incidents at schools nationally were apparently sparked after the businessman and reality TV star won the election. A student in a Detroit suburb posted a video of other students chanting “build a wall” toward Hispanic and Latino students. A teacher in Owasso, Okla., was caught on camera complaining about voters after the election.

Anti-Trump protests took place across the country, including in Atlanta, New York City, Philadelphia, Chicago and other cities.

At Cross Keys, 86 percent of the students are Hispanic or Latino. Most parents speak English as a second language, if at all. The school was in the news recently after state officials announced last month that the school reported the third-largest graduation rate increase between 2015 and 2016. Principal Jason Heard said then that helping parents learn English was the key that sparked more parental engagement.