Sometimes tone defines a word more than the dictionary.
Brigitte Geiger and Sharon Jones, two physical education high school teachers in Mount Olive, N.J., have officially had their tenure revoked after referring to African-American students as "Negroes," according to NJ.com.
Brigitte Geiger and Sharon Jones were brought up on six administrative charges by Larrie Reynolds, the superintendent, on March 23, 2012 for unbecoming conduct and other charges based on a conversation they had in the locker room on March 2, 2012 that was overheard by two students, according to the Office of Administrative Law records.
Administrative Law Judge Tiffany Williams, who heard the initial case, said in her ruling this past July one of the students told school officials that Jones said, "Yeah those Negroes think they are tough (expletive)," to which Geiger replied "Yeah, that’s all they are, just a bunch of Negroes, Negroes, Negroes.” The other student's account in the decision was similar, but had more profanity.
After that ruling, the two teachers were suspended from their teaching positions and consigned to clerical work around the district. They did not return at the start of this school year to their old high school, where Geiger was both the field hockey coach and a teacher for 28 years and Jones was a teacher for 30 years. Reynolds said that they were officially fired on Oct. 8.
Read more at NJ.com.
Jozen Cummings is the author and creator of the popular relationship blog Until I Get Married, which is currently in development for a television series with Warner Bros. He also hosts a weekly podcast with WNYC about Empire called Empire Afterparty, is a contributor at VerySmartBrothas.com and works at Twitter as an editorial curator. Follow him on Twitter.