Elementary school teacher suspended for telling kids they were ‘acting like monkeys in a zoo’

Race of teacher remains undisclosed; school population is two-thirds black

An Indiana elementary school teacher has been suspended after telling his fifth-grade class late last month that it was “acting like monkeys in a zoo.”

The unidentified Merrillville Intermediate School teacher, whose race also is undisclosed, “admitted fault” to administrators, but said “the comments were not intended to have racial implications,” the Daily Mail reports.

Students in the class had “almost immediately” reported the teacher’s remarks to the principal, according to Merrillville Community School District Superintendent Dexter Suggs.

The student body at Merrillville Intermediate is almost 65 percent black, 20 percent Hispanic, and nine percent white. Thirty-six percent are proficient in math, with 35 percent proficient in reading.

According to the Chicago Tribune, Suggs said the district “take[s] matters like this extremely seriously,” and that its investigation was “moving forward ‘with a sense of urgency.’”

But parents at a March 3 school board meeting were not happy.

One parent said “This is what [the teacher] thinks about our kids. I’m not getting over this … now we see this coming from the president also” (a reference to a video posted by President Trump depicting various politicians as animals from “The Lion King,” including Barack and Michelle Obama as monkeys).

Another parent claimed the teacher previously had uttered a “similar remark” in class.

School board member DeLena Thomas, who has kids in the district, said the incident is “not something we take lightly. We’re preparing our kids for a world that is racially tense right now […] I’m hoping some conversations continue.”

Gary, Indiana NAACP President Steven Mays criticized the school and district for allowing the teacher back in class after the incident, and for “not meeting with frustrated parents” before they felt compelled to contact him.

“You let your kids go back to the classroom for that kind of abuse and so people are outraged and now it’s getting out of control,” Mays said. “Do your job … so we can tamp this down and lower the temperature. To not talk to [parents] is insulting.”

Superintendent Suggs said the district “understand[s] that NAACP members were concerned about why the staff member was not immediately removed, but personnel decisions must follow our guidelines and contractual language and due process.”

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