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A Texas middle school teacher has been placed on administrative leave after telling his students he believes his race is "superior" during what the district is calling an "inappropriate conversation," KVUE reports.
Widely circulated video of the incident shows the teacher, whose identity has not been released but appears to be white, holding a discussion with several students in a classroom at Bohls Middle School of Pflugerville ISD. Though it is unclear what sparked the conversation, at one point in the video, the instructor is captured telling the students, "deep down in my heart, I'm ethnocentric, which means I think my race is the superior one."
In response, a student asks the teacher, "So white is better than all?"
"Let me finish. I think everybody thinks that, they're just not honest about it," the teacher replies in the video.
When another student asks the middle school teacher to clarify whether he's admitting to being racist, he says, "I think everybody's a racist at that level."
Parent Brian Hennington told KVUE that the discussion should have never occurred, especially in school.
"There are other personal experiences we've had as people of color that we had individually, but to see this in the classroom setting is just not acceptable," Hennington said.
In a statement, Pflugerville ISD Superintendent Dr. Douglas Killian condemned the "inappropriate conversation."
"We are aware of an inappropriate conversation a teacher at Bohls Middle School had with students this week during an advisory class. This interaction does not align with our core beliefs as a district," the statement reads. "The video of the conversation includes statements that we find wholly inappropriate. The teacher has been placed on administrative leave while Human Resources conducts an investigation."
"Pflugerville ISD and Bohls MS work together to create an inclusive and welcoming environment for our students," the statement continues. "The advisory activity was inappropriate, inaccurate, and unacceptable. This type of interaction will not be tolerated in PfISD schools.
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