Instead of getting fired, Park Hill teacher who said N-word gets to retire
Despite district administration seeking to fire him, the Park Hill school board on Thursday accepted the retirement of teacher Stuart Sullinger, who has been facing backlash for repeating a racial slur.
The board unanimously accepted his retirement, effective Tuesday, March 1, as part of its routine consent agenda during its Thursday meeting, without any discussion.
Superintendent Jeanette Cowherd said that on Feb. 16 the district notified Sullinger “that we were starting the process required by law to terminate his employment in a public school.” Sullinger then submitted his letter seeking retirement.
“When we work with staff members in public school, they do have due process rights that we always follow,” Cowherd said. “And so we were following those due process rights. So that is all I can say about that at this time.”
The board accepted Sullinger’s retirement amid growing calls from students and parents to fire the teacher.
Shereka Barnes, who is running for Park Hill school board, told board members during the public comment portion of the meeting that she was disheartened to learn that Sullinger would retire, saying that he essentially “had no repercussions” for his actions.
“He can leave this district and go on to another school and teach. And what did he learn through that process? He’s learned nothing through that process,” Barnes said during the meeting.
Park Hill spokeswoman Nicole Kirby said that the district, “does not control his ability to draw retirement from the Missouri retirement system.”
Sullinger, a white math teacher and basketball coach at Park Hill High School, repeated the N-word while questioning a Black student for saying it earlier this month. Video recorded by a student, and shared with The Star, shows the aftermath of Sullinger’s decision to repeat the slur. The teacher stands face-to-face with the student, who is angry, raising his voice and repeatedly telling Sullinger that he cannot say the word.
District officials immediately put Sullinger on administrative leave and said they were investigating. After the video circulated, roughly 80 students packed the school gym and held a daylong sit-in, protesting Sullinger’s employment with the district.
Later, three students and one parent told The Star that it wasn’t the first time Sullinger was accused of using the racial slur, and recounted a similar incident from 2019 in which he repeated the N-word multiple times after a student said it. They claimed to have reported the incident, but were frustrated as Sullinger remained on the job at the school in Kansas City, North.
Sullinger has not returned The Star’s multiple requests for comment.
Sullinger’s retirement came with mixed reactions from parents and students.
“I believe that he should be terminated,” Park Hill parent Jenny Sherrick said.
At Thursday’s meeting, Kansas City area teacher Michael Rebne, who is white, said he was standing in solidarity with Park Hill students demanding the board fire Sullinger.
He said Sullinger, “dredged the very bottom of all racist language in using the N-word, a word that whites have used to attempt to control the labor and bodies of Black people and limit their education for centuries. And significantly, it’s also a word that the Black community has risen up against and above in various ways for just as long. So this teacher has no business using it, and especially not in the vicious manner in which he did.”
“The humanity of students of color, and in fact all of your students, is at stake. There’s nothing harsher than demanding Black people pay for the comfort and chosen ignorance and racism of this white teacher and of all white bystanders in this incident.”
But others felt relieved that Sullinger was out of the job, regardless.
“I think him retiring was a good idea because either way he’s not there anymore. And that’s the main thing we were trying to accomplish, just being able to get him out of the school and away from the students,” Park Hill High School student Vanessa Grigsby said. “The only thing for me, though, is him getting fired probably would have felt better. I kind of feel like retiring is the easy way out. But overall, I’m just glad he isn’t coming back.”
Grigsby, who is multiracial, was among the students who accused Sullinger of repeating the N-word multiple times in 2019. She said she reported what happened soon after.
Seeing Sullinger repeat the slur once again this month, she said, made students of color feel their safety was at risk. She believes the district should issue an apology, plus improve cultural sensitivity training for staff.
The Park Hill district has been shrouded in controversy throughout this school year, since some Park Hill South High School students circulated a racist petition calling for the return of slavery. District officials vowed to hire a diversity expert and create a plan to better combat racism in the district.
Parent Bianca Fennix, who reported Sullinger’s 2019 incident, said that she was glad to see the teacher leave the district, but that she would pursue deeper conversations with the school board about needed improvements to diversity and inclusion training.
Earlier this month, Sullinger repeated the N-word after it was first said by student Said Mosis. Video shows a heated exchange, where Mosis continues to tell Sullinger not to say the slur.
“Don’t put the f****** N-word in your f****** sentences,” the student says.
Sullinger responds, “You put it in your sentence.”
Mosis told The Star that he received a 10-day suspension, and then would meet with administrators to determine whether he could return to school. He said that Sullinger repeating the slur was racist and that he felt he had to speak up so that he wouldn’t say it again.
Experts on Black culture agree with Mosis, explaining why Black people can say the N-word while it’s offensive when white people use it.
“I cannot imagine that any white person in the United States does not understand the hatred and vitriol associated with the N-word in this country. Maybe they don’t understand that in-groups use words that people in out-groups cannot use,” said Nicole Price, a diversity and inclusion expert who works with several school districts.
“There is nothing about me that wants to call any of my gay friends the F-word. No matter how much they use it. I don’t see myself singing the (F-word) in songs. I don’t see myself repeating it ever. I’m losing nothing because of that one word I can’t say,” Price said. “It’s a larger issue about the internal work people need to do. And processing really what it is about you that makes you want to say it. How long have you been wanting to say it? And how often have you said it and no one heard you?”
Across the Kansas City region, school districts have been grappling with a series of racist and hateful incidents, both among students and staff members. Meanwhile, school boards are facing ongoing protests from mostly white constituents, who have been arguing against the expansion of diversity and inclusion lessons and training.
Price said that school districts need to own up to long-existing systemic racism, and speak with experts and community members to revamp policies and procedures to more equitably serve students of color.
“These problems are not going to go away because we keep sweeping things under the rug. There’s no more space under the rug,” she said. “There’s not a singular issue that’s ever been resolved without talking about it, strategizing about it, planning and taking action. And in my personal opinion, I think it would be easier for most if not all of us, if we’d just be more vulnerable and say that we don’t know how to do this. Here are our challenges. Help us, please.”
This story was originally published February 24, 2022 at 7:08 PM.
