Fort Worth ISD votes to fire teacher over anti-immigration tweets
FORT WORTH, Texas - The Fort Worth ISD school board voted to fire a teacher accused of posting a controversial tweet about illegal immigration.
In a Tuesday afternoon hearing, the school board heard from parents asking the district to fire Carter-Riverside High School English teacher Georgia Clark.
The district began investigating Clark after she apparently sent a tweet under a clandestine Twitter handle to President Donald Trump asking if anything could be done to "remove illegals from Fort Worth."
READ MORE: Fort Worth ISD investigating teacher over immigration tweets
The school board voted unanimously 8-0 to fire Clark. The vote came after the school board met behind closed doors for around an hour. Before the vote, they heard from 14 speakers on the topic who were all critical of the teacher's comments.
“Her comments were hurtful, irresponsible, misleading and disrespectful to the students,” said parent Penny Clanton. “She is supposed to protect and educate.”
Norma Garcia-Lopez is a former student. She said that is not the Fort Worth model teacher she knows.
“That's the difference between this teacher from Carter-Riverside and the teacher that I had,” Garcia-Lopez said. “She knew that I didn't speak a word of English but was there for me.”
After the tweets, the district put Clark on paid administrative leave.
In a school district review since obtained by the Washington Post, just last month Clark told a student who asked to go to the bathroom "show me your papers that are saying you are legal." Clark denied saying that. It also found in 2013 that she was disciplined for referring to a group of students as "Little Mexico."
While the board ultimately voted to fire Clark, some said it should have happened sooner.
Fort Worth ISD Superintendent Kent Scribner said the past incidents came to his attention after the tweets.
“The other incidents years past were resolved, and this is what we're dealing with today,” Scribner said. “And we're certainly going to make the recommendation that's in the best interests of our students and our district.”
District policy says an employee can be disciplined if use of electronic media interferes with the employee's ability to perform job duties.
Clark has 15 days to appeal the decision with the Texas Education Agency. The termination doesn’t go into effect until after that point if the appeal fails or is not sought.