SUN PRAIRIE, Wis. Three teachers in high school in Wisconsin resigned after compiling a lesson for sixth-graders to ask them how they would punish slaves.
The Wisconsin State Journal reported Wednesday that an investigation conducted by Axley Attorneys on behalf of the Sun Prairie Area School District found that Patrick Marsh Middle School teachers collaborated two or three years ago, but the lesson was outside the district curriculum. and no one at any leadership level approved it.
The assignment asked students how to punish a defiant slave using Hammurabi’s code, a set of laws in ancient Mesopotamia. The investigation also found that the assignment contained other ‘offensive’ questions.
The assignment came to light in February when a parent complained. The parent asked that the lesson be taken down due to the “inappropriate and sensitive nature”, the investigation found, but the teacher refused. The parent called the principal and told the teachers to remove the assignment. The teachers were placed on leave.
The study found that the teachers could not remember how they developed the lesson, but admitted that it looked like a $ 4 lesson from Teachers Pay Teachers, a website where educators can buy and sell materials. The site has since removed the lesson.
The teachers acknowledged that the questions ‘in retrospect’ were inappropriate, but none of them could explain why they never considered how students and others might view the assignment.
The teachers’ allowed ‘to resign, but they will remain on paid leave at the end of the school year, according to the investigators’ report.
District officials on Tuesday sent a message to staff and families sharing the findings of the investigation. They said the order “was a serious mistake that did not represent the district’s commitment to racial equality.”