‘Disgusting and Hurtful’: Florida Teacher Allegedly Tells Middle School Students Joke Comparing Black Men to Animals; District Disputes Claim As Educator Remains On Staff
A Florida teacher is accused of joining a group of middle schoolers as they were making racist jokes and chiming into the banter with her own inappropriate jape, according to one family’s complaint.
Amiah Foster told NBC2 that the incident happened last month at DeSoto Middle School in Arcadia, Florida. The 11-year-old recounted the moment her teacher, Taylor Wiley, told the “joke” to her students.
“And Miss Wiley goes, ‘Hey, y’all wanna hear a dark humor joke? What’s the difference between a Black man and an animal? An animal is there for its family.’” the sixth grader told the outlet. “She starts laughing. Like not a small chuckle, like laughing.”
Amiah told the school about what happened, and the DeSoto County School District confirmed that officials had launched an investigation into the allegations.
“Our internal investigation is ongoing in order to thoroughly understand the facts surrounding the situation. During this process, we are following our established policies to ensure a fair and impartial review. To maintain the integrity of the investigation, and to respect the privacy of those involved, we cannot provide details about personnel matters,” district officials said.
“It was disgusting and hurtful. She needs to realize that her comments have a big impact on people’s lives,” Amiah’s mother, Olivia Jones, tearfully said.
“I don’t want this to happen to any other child,” Amiah said.
The middle school switched Amiah to a different classroom, and Wiley is no longer her teacher. However, her mother still has concerns about Wiley being an instructor to young kids.
“Every now and then, you come across the article of a child who hung himself because they’ve been bullied. I don’t want that to be a statistic for my daughter,” Jones stated. “I don’t want that for nobody. I want bullying to stop. And it’s more hurtful coming from a teacher. I don’t understand why Taylor thought that was OK to do, but it wasn’t.”
Atlanta Black Star reached out to the DeSoto County School District about the results of its investigation and whether the teacher was penalized.
Dr. Gina Stafford, the district’s director of human resources, told us that officials interviewed Wiley and the students in Amiah’s classroom and discovered no evidence that the teacher made the alleged joke.
“Our administration takes any allegation involving inappropriate or insensitive conduct very seriously. When these allegations were reported to us we immediately began a thorough investigation in order to understand the facts surrounding the situation,” Stafford wrote in a statement. “We cannot disclose information about employee discipline matters; however, I am able to advise you that the allegations were found to be unsubstantiated. Additionally, Ms. Wiley is still employed by our district.”