A Duval County, Fla., charter school principal is under scrutiny after parents brought up some of her controversial Facebook posts, which some say are problematic, to say the least.
According to Action News Jax, Charter Schools USA is investigating the Facebook posts of Duval Charter School Principal Kimberly Stidham after the issue was brought to its attention.
One post in particular that drew a lot of attention quoted the lyrics of a song: “Take all of the rope in Texas, find a tall oak tree, round up all of them bad boys, hang them high in the street for all the people to see that.”
The song in question, Toby Keith’s “Beer for My Horses,” stirred up controversy back in 2008 after Max Blumenthal slammed the song as a “pro-lynching anthem.”
Keith routinely denied that the song was about lynching or had any racist implications.
But parents in Duval County are not so sure. One parent, who declined to be identified out of concern for her child who attends the school, said that the principal’s posts left a bad taste in her mouth.
“Everything I saw kind of had an anti-black sentiment to it,” the parent said. “It definitely left me thinking, that, um, if not hatred, that she at least had some severe prejudice against minorities, against black people.
“She’s a principal; she should know better and she should do better,” the parent added. “I’m speaking out because I’m hoping to bring awareness to other parents. Not just minority parents, but parents who have their child there in general.”
The mother said that parents brought up the issue with the school but felt the matter was not adequately handled.
“The feeling that I got from them was that they maybe shared the same views or didn’t really care. They were just going to brush it under the rug,” she said.
As for Stidham, she released a statement to Action News Jax:
I am absolutely devastated that my personal political views were perceived to be racist in any way. I am a firm believer in equality, justice and respect for all individuals and I recognize now that some of my posts could have been misunderstood. I appreciate the fact that those who were offended brought this to my attention so that I could rectify the situation. I encourage anyone who has any concerns about this to come to me directly so that we can discuss it further.
Read more at Action News Jax.