A Texas counselor says she was forced to resign after reporting about a teacher who allegedly called a special needs student a “dumb” N-word, pulled his chair from beneath him and stepped on him, according to legal documents filed in Dallas County.
According to a lawsuit filed, Gabriana Clay-White, a former counselor in the Grand Prairie Independent School District, was asked to “assist a teacher with a student who had special needs.”
Clay-White then asked the student to explain what happened and the student responded by stating the teacher “took my chips and she’s dumb,” the lawsuit reads.
The student claims the teacher then replied: “Oh I’m dumb?” then proceeded to pull the student’s chair from beneath him and step on him.
At the time of this report, neither the identity of the student nor the teacher has been released to the public.
The lawsuit, filed last week, indicates that the incident took place in May.
District officials responded to the lawsuit, stating that they were unaware they were being sued, but did acknowledge that Clay-White resigned from the district in June.
They further chose not to disclose any further information, citing they needed “the permission of the individual involved because it involves her personnel file.”
“The teacher then used a racial slur toward the student saying ‘only dumb [n-word] in this room is the one with the blue shirt who can’t read,”’ the lawsuit reads. The suit further states that the student suffers from a reading-related learning disability.
Moreover, the lawsuit states that the student swung at the teacher after the teacher pulled the chair from beneath the student. It was at that point that Clay-White intervened.
While the student did not make contact with the teacher, the latter then stepped on the student’s chest “and pushed down,” the lawsuit reads.
“The only b*tch is your mom,” the teacher allegedly said while following the student and Clay-White outside of the classroom.
The lawsuit states Clay-White reported the incident to school officials and Child Protective Services the next day. She was then called into a meeting to provide a statement about the incident.
After reporting the incident, the lawsuit states Clay-White was ordered to resign, citing she violated the ethics code. Had she chosen not to resign, the lawsuit states, she would have been fired. Clay-White chose the former and resigned “under duress,” according to the lawsuit. Clay-White is seeking an unspecified amount in damages, the lawsuit reads.
