Osceola County

Osceola County superintendent says district won’t tolerate racism after teacher makes race remarks during online class

OSCEOLA COUNTY, Fla. — The Osceola County school superintendent took to Twitter Thursday morning to share a message regarding a race-related incident that played out during an online class.

Superintendent Debra Pace tweeted that “racism, intolerance, and injustice have no place in our communities or in our schools.”

Video from an online class shows Poinciana High School social studies teacher Tracey Brown asserting a right to “dislike black people.” She said she was attacked by a gang on a train in Atlanta when she was a teen.

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“We will not tolerate behavior by students or staff which insults, degrades, or stereotypes any race, gender, disability, physical condition, ethnic group, religion, or sexual orientation,” Pace tweeted.

The school district said the video was submitted to them through their “Lets Talk” platform, created earlier this year for students and parents to submit questions about anything school-related during the pandemic.

The district said it started investigating immediately to figure out exactly what happened. Another clip circulating on social media shows Brown talking about the Black Lives Matter movement.

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“You are implying that black lives matter more than anyone else,” Brown said in the second video.

Additional video of the session obtained by Eyewitness News shows what happened in the class before Brown made her remarks on race.

The student to whom Brown was speaking in the video said the incident started with a discussion about the Black Lives Matter movement.

Another student who was in the class said the period began with a lesson about the constitution before it veered off course.

In another part of the video, Brown continues, “I was using it as an example, not to start an argument in class.”

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The school district said it has the video from the entire class period and is still in the early stages of its investigation.

“When an incident arises, like the one this week at Poinciana High, our HR Department immediately investigates as all employees are entitled to due process in accordance with the law. I am confident that the full and fair investigation in this case will be completed quickly,” Pace tweeted.

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The Osceola County Education Association said Brown is a member of the union and they will ensure she gets due process.

Katlyn Brieskorn, WFTV.com

Katlyn Brieskorn is a Digital Assignment Editor at WFTV. She joined Channel 9 in July 2019.