Lee’s Summit school board will not fire teacher Joe Oswald who said racial slur
The Lee’s Summit school board will reinstate teacher and coach Joe Oswald, going against the superintendent’s recommendation that he be terminated after using a racial slur.
Oswald, a tenured physical education teacher at Pleasant Lea Middle School, had admitted to using the N-word twice. But he said he only did so while filing a disciplinary report about a student who used the slur in the school cafeteria.
He is the third teacher in the Kansas City metro in recent months to face discipline for using the slur in front of students. The Olathe school board in May fired baseball coach Pete Flood after he used a racial slur toward a Black player. And earlier this month, a Harrisonville high school science teacher was terminated after students testified that he made several racist comments in the classroom.
Oswald is the first to keep his job. The school board voted 5-2 to reinstate him. The two Black members on the board, Megan Marshall and Rodrick Sparks, voted in favor of firing Oswald.
On May 6, Oswald and another teacher overheard a female student say a racial slur, he previously told the school board. While filling out a discipline slip, Oswald quoted what the student had said, including the slur, and then read it aloud. She asked him to repeat it, and he said it again. Another student in the room also overheard the exchange.
A district report, with details of the investigation into the incident, stated that the student “was in shock because the word was offensive and she thought he would just use the term ‘N-word.’”
School officials learned about the incident after the father of the second student emailed a complaint, claiming that Oswald “looked into my son’s eyes and aggressively stated ‘N____, what you looking at?’”
But Oswald denied directing a racial slur toward anyone. And a district document stated that officials were considering terminating Oswald solely based on him repeating the N-word twice while disciplining the student, not what the email alleged.
He said he was only following district protocol by repeating what the student had said, in order to confirm why she was being disciplined. During a hearing on the incident last month, Oswald and several other teachers testified that officials had instructed them to fill out the disciplinary report by including exactly what had happened and what was said. And then confirm the words verbally with the accused student.
“Obviously I’m not going to say a racial slur to anyone, so I know not to — not to direct a racial slur toward anyone, that’s not me. Those words have never come through my lips toward anyone and, I mean, I just thought I was doing what I was supposed to,” Oswald testified at the hearing.
But Superintendent David Buck and district administrators who investigated the incident determined that Oswald should be fired for immoral conduct and willful violation of district policy.
“The administration feels that that conduct has jeopardized the safe and caring community at Pleasant Lea Middle School,” said Michelle Basi, the attorney representing the school district. “Mr. Oswald repeated this word twice despite numerous trainings on the importance of positive relationships, trauma-informed education, cultural sensitivity and social-emotional learning. Mr. Oswald’s conduct in this instance caused harm to the students and the community.”
Many community members called for Oswald to be fired, arguing that a teacher should know better than to use a racial slur regardless of context. Another 2,000 people, though, have signed a petition supporting Oswald and demanding that he remain employed. Several supporters showed up outside a closed door meeting on Tuesday night, as the school board met to discuss the teacher’s fate.
Oswald has been employed by the district for 27 years and has never faced disciplinary action during that time, his attorney Michael McDorman said.
McDorman stated in a document detailing the incident that “there is no written board policy instructing teachers not to repeat racial slurs or profane language when processing a student discipline referral.”
“Contrary to the assertions of the Administration, the staff has not been trained to not say racial slurs,” he said in the document.
A district document states that during the investigation, Oswald acknowledged that the N-word is offensive and not appropriate to use because it could be harmful to students.
The document states that Oswald has completed several years of diversity training, which teaches staff members that they may face consequences when they say or do something that — intentionally or unintentionally — causes offense to a student, family or community group.
Buck and other district administrators testified at the hearing that repeating the N-word back to the student twice was inappropriate and a violation of board policies.
District officials argued Oswald violated a policy requiring staff to “maintain courteous and professional relationships with students, parents/guardians, other district employees and the public.” They also argue Oswald willfully violated the policy requiring employees to communicate professionally and not use profanity.
“In Dr. Buck’s opinion, the seriousness and severity of Mr. Oswald’s violation of Board Policy render it necessary to terminate Mr. Oswald’s employment as a permanent teacher with the District,” the document states.
But the majority of the school board determined that “a violation of Board policy does not, standing alone, suffice for the termination of a tenured teacher’s contract, based on Missouri courts’ interpretation of the Teacher Tenure Act.”
“The standard for ‘immoral conduct’ under Missouri law is a high one, requiring proof that a teacher knew his conduct to be wrong when he engaged in it,” officials wrote in the decision.
The board also determined that they cannot prove Oswald willfully violated district policy.
“While District administrators testified that the use of the N-word in any context would be a willful violation of Board policy, the teachers’ testimony suggests that this interpretation of policy had not made its way to the building level in relation to practices around student discipline,” officials wrote.
Officials wrote that while the board will not terminate Oswald’s contract, the situation brought to light the need to address policies that will help the district promote an equitable environment for all students.
This story was originally published July 16, 2021 at 10:31 AM.
