Ohio Teacher Dragged for "Shady Condolences" Given to Slain Former Student, 10, Who was Murdered.
Not even 24 hours after 10-year-old Persayus Davis was killed the same city that was brought to it's knees by her murder was up in arms at her defense.
A former teacher of Davis' took to social media hours after she had been identified as one of the latest victims of gun violence to express what she thought were her condolences. Minutes after the teacher, referred herein by her first name only, the screenshots started arriving in our email inboxes and the comments started rolling in.
It wasn't the fact that the teacher posted about Davis' death that had folks enflamed, it was what she said during her "condolences". Amy made reference to Davis' academic struggles and said that the little girl "could count money like it was her job". Amy then went on to discuss how Davis often fell asleep in class because she'd been awake at night taking care of younger siblings. Take a look.
Of course, this status angered some residents of Youngstown and had them calling for the Youngstown City School District to fire her immediately. Take some time to read what others have said.
Amy's status was deleted but not after it had been captured in a screen shot and shared far and wide. The teacher did have others speak out in her defense, a co-worker and her husband, who said that she misspoke and her words were misunderstood.
According to WKBN Youngstown City Schools said the incident doesn’t rise to the level of disciplinary action and they would strongly discourage their employees from engaging in this type of behavior.
In a statement Thursday night, Board of Education President Ronald Shadd issued the following statement:
“Our hearts are broken over this tragic event that led to the death of Persayus Davis-May. As a lifelong citizen of Youngstown whose family has also been irreversibly impacted by gun violence, I urge everyone to embrace and share the message to ‘stop the violence.’
“In response to comments of Persayus Davis-May’s death by a Youngstown City School District employee on social media, as your Board of Education President, I regret that the pain many are feeling was compounded by comments of an insensitive nature. Although the Board currently has no authority to manage the District or to judge personnel conduct, as a board member I expect personnel of the District to maintain high standards and always conduct themselves professionally for the benefit of our students. I believe the Board would concur with me that action should be taken to conduct sensitivity and diversity, equity and inclusion training for all staff and faculty.
“It is evident that our Academic Improvement Plan must not only address student performance but culture and climate for our students, family and employees. Now is the time for Youngstown to stand in solidarity with Youngstown’s Stop the Violence movement.”
Davis' god mother, Tayana Smith, said in a live video that the child had been exposed to lead when she was younger and that her once high lead levels are what caused Davis to have some academic challenges. No matter what the case, this is something that the child's former teacher should NOT have spoken on publicly.
Although it looks like Amy won't be fired, she definitely needs to be disciplined!
