A New Jersey high school teacher has been suspended with pay
after profanity-laced comments to students in his class about George Floyd, the
man killed by a Minneapolis police officer.
A
recording aired by WNBC-TV shows Dickinson High School science teacher Howard
Zlotkin talking about Floyd and Black Lives Matter during what was supposed to
be a climate change discussion in a landscape and design Zoom class.
Zlotkin,
who is white, is heard to say people are “whining and crying about Black Lives
Matter," and he then refers to Floyd with a profanity as a “criminal"
who “got arrested and he got killed because he wouldn’t comply." Another
profanity is heard as he continues that Floyd is being treated as a
“hero."
The
video and one taken the next day also included a profanity directed at a
student and a vulgar gesture, WNBC reported. The student said Zlotkin grew
irate when she and three other students challenged his position, and the four
were told to write an essay on “why Black lives should matter” - an assignment
not given to other students.
Superintendent
Franklin Walker told NJ.com that the language used was “unacceptable.” He said
the district is investigating the situation and that police have also been
notified “because some of it could be at the same level as a hate crime.”
“The
comments that were made were very biased and he shouldn’t be having that kind
of discussion with the children - that had nothing to do with the subject
matter in the classroom,” Walker said. “The position that he put the children
in certainly was a very uncomfortable one by doing and saying those kinds of
things.”
The
teachers’ union declined comment until it has more information, union president
Ron Greco said.
Jersey
City Public Schools said in a statement late Thursday that the school had been
taking statements from students “before proceeding with disciplinary
actions" until video from the second day's class surfaced.
“The
teacher will not have access to students or the school as we proceed,"
spokesperson Norma Fernandez said in the statement quoted on WNBC. “”We are
appalled by the statements, profanity, disrespect and treatment of students.”
Zlotkin,
who has been at Dickinson High School for 20 years, has also been suspended
with pay from his adjunct professor position at Hudson County Community
College, NJ.com reported. Spokeswoman Jennifer Christopher said “offensive and
derogatory language” violates the college’s anti-harassment policy and
professional conduct policy.
A
message seeking comment was sent Saturday to Zlotkin, who declined comment to
the New York Times, citing the investigation, but calling the footage a “very
well-edited sound bite" and said he would “love one day to give my side of
the story.”