Parents of students at a middle school in Brentwood had a tense meeting Tuesday with LAUSD officials in the wake of accusations against a teacher who allegedly made racist comments in class.
Some 100 parents came the meeting over the eighth-grade instructor at Paul Revere Charter Middle School and Magnet Center in LA's Westside, many upset that he was removed from the classroom over accusations they say have not yet been proven.
"It's just the bureaucracy that I think is frustrating," parent Susan Giller said."The whole idea that you can't get a straight answer, I think a lot of the parents are very frustrated."
The lawsuit was filed on behalf of a mixed-race student against LA Unified School District last week.
The teacher, identified in the suit as Steven Carnine, allegedly used the N-word in a lesson about the Civil War and denigrated Michael Brown, the teenager whose death in Ferguson, Missouri sparked a national conversation about crime and race, according to the lawsuit, filed in LA Superior Court on March 18.
The lawsuit also accuses Carnine of making racially insensitive comments during a lesson on the Friday before Martin Luther King Jr. Day, when he allegedly said, "black people are judged for not being smart because they are not smart. A lot of them are just athletes."
Since the accusations, dozens have defended Carnine as a good, culturally sensitive teacher. Other children in the class say his remarks were misinterpreted and that he was quoting other viewpoints about stereotypes rather than making personal statements.
Some parents, though, say that could still be an issue.
"So much can be misunderstood," parent Heshimu Faggins said. "So much can be taken the wrong way, and then you have a situation where we are right now."
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The LAUSD has moved Carnine to non-classroom work. Many parents at the school felt it was unfair to remove him from the classroom before the allegations were proven.
"Nothing that any of the parents feel, nothing that these administrators say matter," parent Julie Paller said. "All that matters is what all of the students in the classroom heard."
The parent suing the district has not spoken publicly. NBC4 reached out to his attorneys. Carnine has not responded to the allegations. The suit seeks damages for emotional distress.
