Teacher quits after her racist rant stereotyping black families on Zoom call was taped by parent

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Now, the mother of the parent-teacher appeal, Katura Stokes, has sent a prior claim – a precursor to a lawsuit – to the school district for monetary compensation for emotional distress, libel, neglect and discrimination, according to Stokes’ lawyers and a copy of the claim provided to CNN.

Stokes’ sixth-grade student has struggled since his school switched to e-learning last year at the start of the coronavirus pandemic, his lawyers say.

Stokes contacted officials at the Desert Willow Fine Arts, Science and Technology Magnet Academy school in Palmdale, Calif., 60 miles north of Los Angeles, for help, according to a press release from Taylor. & Ring, the law firm representing Stokes.

The teacher scheduled a Zoom call for Jan.20 with Stokes and his unnamed son and worked on recent assignments with him, according to the pre-trial request. At the end of the call, the teacher assured him he was caught, according to the claim.

“Considering her son’s difficulties, Ms Stokes was very happy to hear this,” the statement said.

After the video conference, the teacher did not end the Zoom call and commented to someone else in the video, which caught Stokes’ attention, the statement said. This prompted Stokes to record what she and her son heard for almost 30 minutes, he says, as she couldn’t believe what she was hearing and thought no one else would believe her.

“It’s odious,” Palmdale School District spokesperson David Garcia told CNN. “This is a hideous event and the Palmdale School District will not accept any racial behavior whether it is recorded or not.”

The school district did not name the teacher, but the prior complaint notice identifies her as Kimberly Newman, the son’s sixth-grade science teacher. Garcia said the district did not receive the formal request for pre-action on Wednesday morning.

CNN contacted the teacher’s lawyer but had no response.

Stokes and his lawyers filed the prior complaint “in an effort to shed light on an education system and a district that creates unequal educational experiences for its minority students,” according to the press release.

“The horrific comments the teacher made in the video are truly heartbreaking for a mother and for her young son to hear,” said John C. Taylor, one of Stokes’ attorneys. “It is unthinkable that an educator would mock and belittle this family, and there is no doubt that this incident marked them. All children have the right to receive an educational experience without discrimination and this video demonstrated what children are doing. minority students often face behind the scenes today. “

CNN has reached out to Stokes, but Taylor said she declined to comment further at this time.

What videos show

In a series of five fuzzy clips of varying length, provided by Stokes’ attorneys, the teacher can be heard explaining the interaction between her and Stokes to a man off camera. It is not known what happened before or after the video clips provided by Stokes’ attorney.

In the videos, the teacher talks about having difficulty reaching her students ‘parents, calling several times without an answer, although the teacher never mentions Stokes’ name.

“These parents are real liars,” the teacher said in a video.

“I mean those parents – that’s what kind of shit they are. Black. She’s black. It’s a black family,” she says in another clip.

“Your son has learned to lie to everyone and to make excuses,” the teacher says in a video.

“Are you serious?” Stokes can be heard whispering as she listens.

“To have the right, because you taught him to apologize by saying that nothing is his fault,” continues the professor. “This is what black people do. This is what black people do. White people do it too, but black people do a lot more.”

Stokes called the director of the Desert Willow Fine Arts, Science and Technology Magnet Academy while the teacher still spoke openly about Zoom, and the director then told the teacher that the audio and video were on, according to Garcia. .

“This is something we took very seriously and within minutes the teacher was put on paid administrative leave as part of a process related to such a situation and within days he was no longer. employed by the district, ”he said.

When the school arranged for an interview to begin investigating the incident the next day, “the teacher said he would rather quit than go through this and walked outside,” Garcia said.

Two days later, Garcia said, she tendered her resignation.

“This video clearly shows that there are uneven educational experiences for minority students,” said Neil Gehlawat, another lawyer for Stokes. Like many parents whose children struggled to transition to online school during the pandemic, Ms Stokes asked for help – and in return, she found her son was being treated unfairly because of the color of his skin. ”

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