Teacher To Kid: 'We Don't Need Another Black Pres.

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   Teacher To Kid: 'We Don't Need Another Black Pres.'

Teacher suspended for alleged comment
Several students report racial remark to an African-American

FAIRFIELD — A Fairfield Freshman School teacher has 
been suspended without pay and faces the prospect of dismissal after 
allegedly making racially insensitive statements to a student earlier 
this month.Monday, the Fairfield Board of
 Education suspended science teacher Gil Voigt. He has 10 days to 
request a hearing before the school board or a referee.
Voigt,
 who is white, is accused of telling an African-American male student, 
“We do not need another black president” after the student said he would
 like to become president.
The
 incident occurred on Dec. 3, with several other students present, 
according to a report from Assistant Superintendent Roger Martin, who 
conducted a disciplinary hearing on the matter.
It
 isn’t the first time the 14-year Fairfield teacher has been 
disciplined. He received a verbal warning for making an inappropriate 
racial comment in 2008. That year he also received a verbal warning for 
improper use of school technology.
Last
 year he received a verbal warning after allegedly calling a student 
“stupid” and belittling him. He received a written warning last month 
for failure to use the adopted curriculum.
“This
 is a rare occurrence. This is the first time I’ve faced it since being 
named assistant superintendent (in 2011),” Martin said.
In his report, Martin said he believed four students were interviewed who corroborated the student Voigt was speaking to.
Following a complaint by the student’s parents, the teen was removed from Voigt’s class, Martin said.
“We
 intend to uphold board policies and to hold teachers accountable for 
the essential functions of the teacher job description,” Martin said.
Voigt is accused of violating board policies related to staff ethics, staff-student relations and harassment.
Voigt was not present at the meeting and could not be reached on Monday for comment.
According
 to the report, Voigt said his statement was misquoted by the student, 
who he said was not a very good student and was troublesome in class.
Voigt
 has been a Fairfield teacher since 2000. Before that he taught seven 
years in North Carolina, two years in Florida and six years in the 
Cincinnati Public Schools.

http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20131223/NEWS0102/312230095/Teacher-suspended-alleged-comment