High school teacher escapes dismissal after racist tweets come back to bite her

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Photo: XanderSt (Shutterstock)

Every once in a while we were bound to run into a professional who forgot that they may have left a load of racist messages on the internet years ago. Unfortunately for a Cincinnati public school teacher, those posts have been dusted off and exposed, according to ABC 9 News. The students staged a march to demand action against the teacher.

Walnut Hills High School teacher Claire Thornberry posed as a fake Twitter account posting screenshots of her decade-old racist and homophobic tweets, according to the report. Apparently, a college student is behind the account and dug up tweets from 2013 and 2014 heavily polluted with the n-word and LGBT slurs. There’s also a photo of her posing with a college student with the hashtag #BlackFellaFriday and the n-word (again) in the caption.

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According to WCPO, Thornberry took responsibility, admitting the tweets came from his old high school account. She said she didn’t even know they were still online.

As a young, easily influenced teenager, I made mistakes that I regret. The way I have spoken in these messages is not acceptable. It does not represent the thoughts or language of my family or my upbringing, she said in an apology per ABC 9.

The students, however, did not believe that a simple forgiveness would suffice.

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On Friday, dozens of Walnut Hills High School students staged a strike. Several students held signs, including ones that read, What About Us and Hold Her Accountable.

Shaylin King, a freshman at the school, organized the walkout. With this protest, we hope to bring Thornberry out, she said.

King claims that the schools’ lack of action against Thornberry makes her feel like she doesn’t matter as a student.

Whoever runs the account mirrored Kings’ message and recently tagged Cincinnati Public Schools on Twitter saying, we want her out.

The story continues

The district announced in a press release that no disciplinary action would be taken against the teacher. Chances are Thornberry learned from his mistakes. Meanwhile, teenage students calling out their teacher for what they perceive to be racist and homophobic behavior could imply that Thornberry knew her comments were inappropriate when she made them at the same age.

Sometimes it’s worth getting those old receipts back.

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