Greensburg Salem parent calls for change after teacher caught reading racial slur aloud in classroom

Apr. 13—A Greensburg Salem High School parent is calling for change after a substitute teacher voiced a racial slur while reading aloud to her classroom from the 1937 John Steinbeck novella "Of Mice and Men."

The incident happened March 24 in a 10th-grade language arts class. According to parents, the moment was captured on video, was shared among students and was briefly posted online.

"My hope is that in the 2023-24 school year, and in years to come, that educational tools such as these types of books will be updated," parent Tara Gandy told district officials during this week's school board meeting. "There are other, modern ways to educate on parts of history without using such a dated tool."

In a conversation after the meeting, district Superintendent Ken Bissell told Gandy, "It's really a discussion with the language arts department, a deeper discussion of how are we prepping those lessons when we're not there" for "a sub who's coming in who has no knowledge what they're getting into?"

"The bigger topic that has to come up is what are the texts that we're using and, if we are using that one, can we find a comparative contemporary one that we can have an open discussion about? We can't hide the topic of race anymore. We have to talk about it."

Gandy said her son is a high school junior but was aware of the classroom incident. "Everyone was talking about it," she said. "Some of his friends were impacted."

A lifelong Greensburg resident, Gandy said she was the only Black female in her 1990s high school graduating class and she is now a board member of the Westmoreland County YWCA, whose missions include eliminating racism and empowering women.

"This is not just a minority issue, this is a student issue," she said of the use of the slur by a teacher. "It's not just minority students who are impacted, it's all students."

She said students and families were upset, not only by the classroom incident, but by the district's "overall reaction or lack thereof," and that the offending substitute returned to the classroom the following day.

"I don't think the students were given any kind of an opportunity to voice their opinions on how they were impacted," Gandy said. "My hope is that, ultimately, the students will be able to address how they feel in any circumstances such as this, that their voices will be heard."

High School Principal David Zilli said he learned about the March 24 incident from parents and did not receive any complaints from students.

"We jumped on it quickly with that teacher and also communicating with the community," he said.

In an email sent to high school families, Zilli said district administrators were aware that a "derogatory term" was included in a passage "read word for word from this award-winning novel." He said administrators "addressed the situation and we will continue to ensure that resources used in classrooms are handled with appropriate sensitivity for our diverse learners."

He later indicated the incident happened when students were provided an opportunity to read aloud and someone in the classroom asked the substitute teacher to also read aloud.

Zilli said the teacher was "very seasoned" and "very apologetic when I made her aware how we approach it."

Referring to his past experience as an English teacher, Zilli said, "We talked about why that language was in that text and why we don't use that aloud in class.

"We try to explain (to students) why it would be in a text, what it represents. We're trying to give a depiction of what society was like at that time."

"Of Mice and Men" is a tale of two migrant ranch workers in California during the Great Depression.

Zilli added, "We probably need to revamp our training with our substitutes."

Bissell would not comment on the substitute teacher's qualifications or status with the district, indicating it is "a personnel matter."

The district has worked with Tennessee-based company ESS since the 2014-15 school year for help in staffing with substitute teachers.

In a later email, Bissell told the Tribune-Review that the incident involving the slur "was handled appropriately by administration based on the full context of the event. All high school parents were made aware of the incident, and it was addressed the same day."

He said district teachers review curriculum resources on an ongoing basis.

"We work to include choice texts and resources that address the same learning standards and understandings of the traditional texts without excluding works of literature," Bissell said. "Adding to literature, not excluding, is the best way to include diverse perspectives, cultures and beliefs to address topics from various points of view and contextual understanding. Including, not excluding, authors and texts with similar themes, text, character development and insights increases student empathy and acceptance for one another."

Bissell indicated that district staff also "work with individual children and families through conversation to understand their perspectives (religious, racial, gender, etc.) and provide them with resources that best meet their needs, and provide increased understanding of multiple perspectives."

"I'm never coming with barrels loaded," Gandy told Bissell. "I'm coming to make a change and to have a voice and to empower."

Jeff Himler is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Jeff by email at jhimler@triblive.com or via Twitter .