- A white teacher was suspended after he hung a Black stuffed doll in his classroom.
- The teacher said he hung the doll in order to help the doll's owner find the missing item, according to school officials.
- One of the teacher's Black colleagues then confronted him about the doll in front of students.
A white teacher was suspended from his position with Chicago Public Schools last week after he hung a Black stuffed doll by its neck from a projector screen cord, according to school officials.
In an email sent to students and parents last week, Joyce D. Kenner, principal at Whitney M. Young Magnet High School, said the teacher claimed he hung the doll from the center of his classroom in an attempt to help the doll's owner find the missing item.
"The teacher indicated he found the doll in his room and wanted the students to see if someone would claim it," Kenner wrote in the email, which was shared with Insider by Chicago Public Schools.
A viral photo of the Black doll dressed as a football player hanging in front of a white board was shared among students and on social media.
—DashingClaire (@dashingclaire) April 1, 2022
The already-fraught incident escalated when a colleague approached the white teacher about the hanging doll and the conversation between the two "became contentious," according to Kenner's email.
The Chicago Sun-Times reported last week that the second teacher was Black. A video obtained by the outlet reportedly caught the two teachers swearing at each other while locked in a heated argument in front of students.
In her Tuesday email, Kenner said the school's administration investigated the incident and spoke with both teachers. A spokesperson with Chicago Public Schools told Insider that the episode prompted an official incident report, as well as an ongoing Title IX investigation.
The unnamed white teacher, whom a Chicago Public Schools representative said was hired by the district in January 1996, was suspended from his position on Thursday for the duration of the investigation, the district said. Kenner told Insider the teacher was "removed."
The Sun-Times reported that both teachers are in the social sciences, with the white teacher having taught at Whitney M. Young Magnet High School for years, and the Black teacher being a more recent hire.
In the student-filmed video obtained by the outlet, one teacher can reportedly be heard calling the other teacher "stupid."
"You'[re] fucking stupid," the second teacher responds.
Neither teacher can be seen in the video, according to the outlet, and the student filming the altercation ceased recording after one teacher said their colleague was making them feel "uncomfortable."
In her email to parents last week, Kenner said the school gave students the chance to "voice any concerns and recommendations they had" regarding the incident.
"It has been my goal to create a community of respect and professionalism over the past 27 years as principal," Kenner wrote in her email. "We strive each day to make sure that every student, faculty and staff members feels comfortable, supported and safe."
The Chicago Teachers Union denounced the incident in a Wednesday tweet, calling on Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot to "provide a safe space for every member of our school communities, which is especially important in a district that serves a student population that is 90% Black and Brown children."
Whitney M. Young Magnet High School is the second most diverse high school in the city, according to its website, as well as former first lady Michelle Obama's alma mater.
The incident is the most recent case of teachers across the country being suspended or fired for racially-insensitive classroom behavior. Earlier this year, a Kentucky teacher was fired after video footage emerged of him assaulting a teen gunshot victim and telling him he was "just another Black boy who got shot." And last fall, a California math teacher was placed on leave after video emerged of her mimicking Native Americans vocalizations while wearing a paper headdress and lecturing on SohCahToa, a popular trigonometry mnemonic.