Seattle teacher allegedly compares Trump election to 9/11
Feb 13, 2017, 4:15 PM
A spokesperson for Seattle Public Schools says the district launched an investigation following an allegation against a Seattle teacher. It further expressed the district’s stance that classrooms should be free of political opinions.
KIRO Radio’s Dori Monson received an email about Brad Smith, described as a popular music teacher at Nathan Eckstein Middle School, who allegedly told a class of students that Trump’s election is “worse than the Terror Attacks on 9/11.”
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Smith did not return Dori’s request for comment, however, the concerned parent forwarded Dori the following email allegedly sent by the Seattle teacher to about 200 people:
Dear Families,
Recently the subject of politics came up during class time and I shared my own political opinion. I recognize the importance of keeping the classroom free from personal political opinion to ensure a safe learning environment for all students. I will ensure this happens in the future.
Best regards,
Brad Smith
The show also reached out to the principal at Eckstein, who referred them to the District. SPS Spokesperson Luke Duecy said that the District can’t speak about human resources situations, but said that school district families received a letter of an apology from the principal. Duecy later clarified that it was Smith, not the principal who sent the letter.
“When the district became aware of the situation we launched an investigation and we followed our HR process,” Duecy wrote. “The school’s principal sent a letter home to all families explaining the situation and steps the school and the district are taking. As an educational institution Seattle Public Schools does not take political sides or positions. We cannot comment further on HR issues.”
Seattle teacher criticism
This is not the first criticism that some Washington educators are overstepping their bounds, allowing political or social views to bleed into the curriculum. A Kingston teacher received backlash for a “tone-deaf” comment on her Facebook page concerning the death of Reginald “Jake” Gutierrez, the Tacoma police officer who was killed in the line of duty; about 2,000 Seattle teachers wore “Black Lives Matter” T-shirts to their schools in October in a call for racial equity; and a Kennewick teacher compared a student’s ‘build the wall’ shirt to a swastika.
Dori, a high school basketball coach, is critical of a hypocrisy among teachers who espouse the importance of diversity in schools and anti-bullying — except, he argues, when it comes to thought diversity. He also didn’t view Smith’s letter as an apology.
“I think its absolutely outrageous if indeed, as has been alleged, a teacher compared a presidential election to a terror attack in which 3,000 Americans were slaughtered,” Dori said. “I’d love to find out if the teacher is old enough where he remembers people jumping from the 101st floor of the World Trade Center, sailing through the air and thudding below because they had a choice of either jumping or burning to death. I’d love to know if that teacher would say the same thing to the family members of The Falling Man at 9/11. That’s the state of our schools.”
Dori also floated an idea that he believes would improve the “transparency” of what is happening and being taught inside schools.
“We should have cameras in every public school classroom, where parents can access and monitor what the teachers are saying,” Dori said. “… I’ve never taken a tone, or said or done anything that I’d be embarrassed to have a parent hear.”
