One year ago, Congress defunded public media. Now that we're 100% community funded, please become a sustaining member or increase your existing membership today.
This is an archival story that predates current editorial management.
This archival content was written, edited, and published prior to LAist's acquisition by its current owner, Southern California Public Radio ("SCPR"). Content, such as language choice and subject matter, in archival articles therefore may not align with SCPR's current editorial standards. To learn more about those standards and why we make this distinction, please click here.
Racist Teacher Who Threatened Student With Deportation Put On 'Do Not Hire' List
Bret Harte Preparatory Middle School (Google Maps)
Last week, a teacher at a Los Angeles school was fired after telling a student her parents would be deported and she would be left in a foster home. We now know the teacher was "a long-term substitute" in charge of a physical education class at Bret Harte Preparatory Middle School, and that following his outburst and his firing, several parents have filed complaints against him to the LAUSD.
The teacher's threats were caught on tape, where he can be heard saying, "If you were born here, then your parents will go. Then they will leave you behind, and you will be in foster care. I have your phone numbers. Your address. Your mama's address, your daddy's address. It's all in the system, sweetie."
We've reached out to the LAUSD for comment and we're told that details about the ongoing incident cannot be given as personnel matters are confidential, however, "this substitute teacher was pulled from the classroom and put on our 'do not hire' list."
One student who heard the remarks told the Daily News, "I worry about my dad because I had a nightmare that he wasn’t with me anymore."
Students have been walking out of class all over Los Angeles over the past week, specifically "protesting Trump's call for the deportation of undocumented immigrants, the construction of a wall between the U.S. and Mexico, and the repeal of the Affordable Care Act," according to the L.A. Times.
More walkouts occurred today. According to Nancy Meza at Eastside Rising, students are demanding that "Mayor Eric Garcetti, LA County Supervisor Hilda Solis and LAUSD Superintendent Michelle King declare LA County a Sanctuary and create a plan that ensures their schools and communities will protect and support all individuals and communities being targeted by President-Elect Donald Trump’s White Supremacists, Patriarchal, Homophobic, Transphobic, Xenophobic and Islamophobic agenda."
Sponsored message
Here's what you need to know if you are undocumented in Los Angeles (in English y en Español).
One year ago, Congress voted to defund public media, eliminating a critical $1.7 million from our budget every year going forward. But they couldn’t silence us, and we’re not going anywhere. LAist is now 100% community funded and that means we’re taking our future into our own hands and turning to you to keep local reporting strong.
You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our nonprofit newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our communities. We are free to follow facts wherever they lead and to hold power to account without fear or favor. Our only loyalty is to our readers and listeners and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen Southern California’s communities.
If this story helped you, please become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission. It just takes 1 minute to donate below.
You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our nonprofit newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our communities. We are free to follow facts wherever they lead and to hold power to account without fear or favor. Our only loyalty is to our readers and listeners and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen Southern California’s communities.
If this story helped you, please become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission. It just takes 1 minute to donate below.
Senior Vice President News, Editor in Chief
