Students stage walkout over teacher’s ‘speak American’ remark

<p>A few dozen students walked out of Cliffside Park High School Monday morning in protest of what some are calling racist remarks by a teacher.</p>

News 12 Staff

Oct 16, 2017, 4:18 PM

Updated 2,396 days ago

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A few dozen students walked out of Cliffside Park High School Monday morning in protest of what some are calling racist remarks by a teacher.
The exchange was captured on cellphone video late last week and posted on social media.
The video shows an unidentified teacher saying, “The men and women aren't fighting for your rights to speak Spanish. They're fighting for your rights to speak American.”
Cliffside Park students tell News 12 New Jersey that their high school is one where dozens of languages are spoken. About a third of the Cliffside Park population comes from Hispanic backgrounds, according to the 2010 census. Some of the students were seen waving the flags of their home countries during the walkout.
“I’m just hoping for an apology because [the teacher] could have been nicer and just ask, ‘Can you please speak English, I don’t understand you,’” said sophomore Anyeles Lebron. “But she didn’t, she was like being racist and she said it in a mean way.”
Some of the parents who attended the protest said that they want to see the teacher fired.
“I think that they have to take her out, because we don’t need people like that working for the school,” said parent Blanca Pastrana. “We don’t need somebody who discriminates or be racist with the kids.”
The school’s student body president says that since the video only shows a few seconds of the dialogue inside the classroom, the people of the community should hold judgment until the investigation is complete.
“They 100 percent support the students. Most of our faculty is either Hispanic or from a different race, different background,” says student council president Kleidon Ndreu. “One teacher cannot and will never represent the amazing men and women who teach us and who are my friends and fellow students.”
News 12 New Jersey has reached out to the Cliffside Park school superintendent for comment but did not hear back.
An emergency school board meeting was held Monday evening about the issue. School officials did not announce what, if any, actions would be taken against the teacher in the video.


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