Newburgh schools employees under fire after teacher's 'racially insensitive' Facebook post

CITY OF NEWBURGH - A group of Newburgh schools employees are under investigation after a teacher created a Facebook post that the school district said was "reasonably perceived as offensive and racially insensitive."

The original post by Newburgh Free Academy art teacher Nicole Mischo, who is white, featured a photo of a braided hair extension laying on the floor. She wrote in the post, "Does anybody know what kind of snake this is? Found it in my classroom ....."

The teacher geotagged the post as being made from Newburgh Free Academy, Newburgh's high school.

Commenters, some of whom were Newburgh school employees, piled on to Mischo's post. Some made jokes about Black culture, referencing dreadlocks, a made-up African snake species, and weave hairstyles.

But not everyone took the post so lightly.

Her post and portions of the comment section were screenshot and shared by other Facebook accounts over the weekend.

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On June 11, one of those accounts called Mischo's post "sad and embarrassing," amassing 200 comments and 200 shares by Monday afternoon. Those comments denounced the jokes made by Mischo and others on her original post. Some called for her removal from the school and wondered what effect her post might have on Black students who see it.

The Times Herald-Record reached out to Mischo for comment, but had not heard back from her as of Monday afternoon.

Ray Harvey, NAACP Newburgh-Highland Falls president, said the Newburgh community was buzzing about Mischo's post on Monday.

"There is a big distrust between the school district and the Black community," Harvey said.

The school district issued two statements about the Facebook post on Monday – one from Interim Superintendent Ed Forgit and one from NFA co-principals Matteo Doddo and Edgar Glascott. They held an assembly at NFA's main campus Monday morning to address the Facebook post with students.

"We would like to be abundantly clear we do not condone or permit racism, intolerance, or discrimination in any form at Newburgh Free Academy," the statement from Doddo and Glascott reads. "Our top priority is creating an environment where all our students are safe, respected, and feel valued. We are committed to addressing racism, intolerance, and discrimination swiftly and with the appropriate action."

It continues: "We cannot provide specific details with regard to employees, but we can assure you that we will take the necessary actions to demonstrate the respect we have for our diverse community."

Those statements aren't comforting to Ray Harvey.

"I'm very disappointed," he said about the district's response. "The whole thing – it had no bite to it. They say 'We're taking this stuff seriously and there will be consequences.' The community needs to know it’s safe to send Black kids to the school district without the teachers attacking them. They say, 'We're sorry.' C’mon. That's all you can come up with?"

"I'm tired of it, man," Harvey said. "I'm so sick and tired of these administrative people and the (school) board. They can't keep snowballing us with the same BS."

This incident follows a shooting threat made in April against Black students at Heritage Middle School, South Middle School, and NFA's main campus.

That threat remains under investigation.

As for employees whose behavior comes into question: Newburgh schools spokeswoman Cassie Sklarz said the district could not comment on personnel matters.

Newburgh schools employees have to abide by the district's social media policy, which explicitly says staff should not post online offensive comments about students, colleagues, or the district in general.

"Negative comments about others may be interpreted as cyber-­bullying and could lead to disciplinary action," the policy reads.

This is a developing story, check back at recordonline.com for updates.

Lana Bellamy covers Newburgh for the Times Herald-Record and USA Today Network. Reach her at lbellamy@th-record.com.

This article originally appeared on Times Herald-Record: Newburgh schools investigating employees connected to Facebook post