An English Language Arts teacher at Lake Nona Middle School quit after the school started multiple reviews because of complaints about student presentations on Wednesday.
A parent sent WFTV a 51-second clip of the presentation, which showed a boy talking about Mexican immigrants in front of a noisy classroom.
“They’re border hoppers,” he said, adding that newcomers had to work for their rights. “They’re taking over in Florida.”
One of his friends made a remark about how dark Mexicans’ skin is.
“They all have the same skin color, a little mixed or whatever,” a male friend said.
Before the district said the teacher was leaving, it wasn’t clear if there were any workers in the room. Also, it wasn’t clear what the main point of the presentation was, how long it lasted, or if the teacher tried to stop it after the clip finished.
The parent who sent the video said that their student had the same task, which was to give a presentation on any topic they wanted.
Jose Diaz, who is of Mexican descent, said that his son was also in the class and that several students gave inappropriate speeches on topics like “Why I don’t like Black people” and “Why I don’t like Mexican people.”
Diaz said that he was the third parent to complain to school officials on Thursday.
“I just hope that they learn from this and talk to people about how it’s not appropriate to talk like this, especially in a school setting,” Diaz said.
Based on the results of their investigation and the content of the witness accounts that staff said they had finished collecting on Friday, the district has said that the behavior in the video will lead to harsh punishments.
“Any discipline will be handled according to the Code of Student Conduct,” the district said in a statement and a recording that was texted to parents.
A spokesman for the Office of Professional Standards said that the teacher quit while they were looking into the situation.
Tensions are rising over the end of Title 42, a strategy from the time of the pandemic that helped the U.S. keep many migrants in Mexico while their court cases were being worked through. During that time, refugees are usually allowed to stay in the U.S.
