Racial slur in class brings outcry, unlikely to get Seattle teacher fired

It's unlikely that a Cleveland High School teacher accused of using a racial slur in a classroom two weeks ago will be fired for his comments.

Instead, first-year teacher Brian Emanuels will likely receive a verbal warning or another lower-level disciplinary action because it is his first offense, said the Seattle School District's deputy general counsel, Brenda Little-Latham.

Emanuels was placed on paid administrative leave pending an investigation on the context of the slur and its impact on students. The investigation is expected to be completed today.

The district has an anti-harassment policy that prohibits harassment based on things such as national origin, race and sexual orientation.

During class on May 2, Emanuels said he was offended by a student's use of the term "gay" to describe an assignment. The teacher said he responded by referring to the African-American student with a slur referring to black people, asking him how he liked being called that name. He said he did so to make a comparison he thought the class could relate to. Emanuels is white.

"I think that the statement was taken out of context. I have never allowed any derogatory speech in my classroom," Emanuels said yesterday. "But in hindsight, I would like to have made my point in a different way."

Officials from the Seattle branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People said at a news conference yesterday the incident was "disturbing and shocking," and demanded that the district fire Emanuels for violating the district's anti-harassment policy, adopted in 1995.

Emanuels held a news conference yesterday at his attorney's downtown office. With his wife sitting beside him, he said he didn't intend to offend anyone; rather, he wanted to illustrate how insulting the student's language could be to a homosexual.

According to Little-Latham, Emanuels allegedly used the racial slur twice. He took the student, a 16-year-old junior, into the hallway and allegedly asked how he'd like to be called the racial slur. When some classmates defended the student's use of the word "gay," Emanuels allegedly responded by saying to the class, "OK, how would you like it if I said 'I guess the (slur) can come back in,' " Little-Latham said.

"I used the word, and right after I asked, 'Is it OK for me to use that term? Of course not. It's a highly offensive word,' " Emanuels said.

The matter was brought to the attention of the Seattle NAACP by Eric Dawson, the father of another student in the class.

Dawson said that on the day of the incident, his son stood up and told Emanuels, "You can't talk to him like that," and the two began a verbal exchange until a teacher separated the two.

Emanuels said he apologized to the class and to the student he'd directed the slur to. He said the class then had a 15-minute discussion on the subject of intolerance.

Four days after the incident, Dawson contacted the Seattle NAACP on behalf of the student's mother. The teacher was placed on paid leave last Thursday after a meeting that same day involving school administrators, the two students involved and their parents, district and NAACP attorneys, and the NAACP's education-committee chairwoman, Phyllis Beaumonte.

"We instill our trust into teachers, not only to teach our kids, but to do the right thing as professionals in what they do," Eric Dawson said at the NAACP news conference. "I'm appalled with the teachers, the administration at that school that knew that this situation had happened and did nothing about it until the NAACP got involved."

Beaumonte said she discussed the incident earlier this week with district Superintendent Joseph Olchefske and Sharon Wilkins, director of high schools.

Beaumonte said the NAACP is recommending that the Seattle School Board revisit its anti-harassment policy. She added that NAACP is conducting its own investigation of the incident and other alleged incidents at the school.

"This current broad policy either needs to be amended or a new policy legislated by the School Board which specifically addresses use of racist terminology by a teacher to a student to the extent that there is a zero tolerance for this type of unprofessional behavior," Beaumonte said.

Cleveland Principal Ted Howard said the incident does not show that there is a racially hostile environment at Cleveland, where 45 percent of the 736 students are African American.

"If these allegations are true, I don't think this person should be working for any school," Howard said. "It's an incident that happened. They (the NAACP) say it's a hostile environment. I say it's just one teacher."

Seattle Education Association President John Dunn said from what he understands about the case, the teacher was using the word as an example of inappropriate language.

"It seems his intent was not to offend anyone. Once the facts of the case are clear, the district will decide how to move forward," Dunn said in a written statement. "SEA does not condone the use of the word in any context because of its history."

Emanuels was a 15-year Microsoft employee before coming to Cleveland High School's Infotech Academy to teach computer programming. Howard described Emanuels as "very talented."

"I came to teach at an inner-city school to give students more opportunities with my background and experience in the private sector," he said. "That's why I came into teaching, to try and help these kids from racial injustice."

Emanuels hopes to return to work at Cleveland and doesn't think the incident will affect his relationship with any of his students.

"But I will choose my words more carefully now," he said.

One Cleveland student, Antwine Smith, an 18-year-old senior, says it's never OK for anyone to use a racial slur. "But I hear he didn't mean it like that and it just came out wrong. I hear he is a nice guy."

But Smith added that a role model shouldn't use that language to prove a point. "He's an adult, and adults have more sense than kids do," he said.

Seattle Times staff reporter Keith Ervin contributed to this story. Nguyen Huy Vu: 206-464-2376 or vunguyen@seattletimes.com