FAIRFIELD, Ohio (AP) — A southwest Ohio teacher says he is
challenging allegations that he told a black student who said he wanted
to become president that the nation doesn’t need another black
president.
Teacher Gil Voigt told The Cincinnati Enquirer
(http://cin.ci/198iq9x) that he has requested a hearing to defend
himself. The Fairfield freshman school teacher was recently suspended
without pay, which a school official said was the first step in the
termination process.
Voigt told school officials he was misquoted.
School officials said that students say the white teacher told the
black student who said he wants to be president that "we don’t need
another black president."
Voigt offered a different version,
saying that he had responded to the student: "I think we can’t afford
another president like (Barack) Obama, whether he’s black or white."
Voigt explained to school officials in a statement that "there was no
way I was trying to indicate the color of his skin had anything to do
with his politics."
School officials said a hearing will be
scheduled before a labor mediation referee. The district’s board
president, Dan Murray, said last month that Voigt had crossed the line
with "racially insensitive" comments.
Voigt is a former Cincinnati
Public Schools teacher who has worked in the northern Cincinnati suburb
of Fairfield since 2000. School records show he received a verbal
warning in 2008 for an inappropriate racial comment and recently
received a written warning for failure to use adopted curriculum.
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Information from: The Cincinnati Enquirer, http://www.enquirer.com
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