Parent is angered by skin tone remarks

A theater instructor is on leave after she says ''lighter is better'' with regard to skin tone and stage lighting.

By MONIQUE FIELDS, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published September 5, 2002

ST. PETERSBURG -- In a theater class at Gibbs High School, teacher Toni Mitchell led a discussion this week about lighting on stage.

Mitchell said Wednesday she told all of her students -- black and white -- that they should stay out of the sun. For the sake of their careers, they should not get a tan because the darker someone's skin, the harder it is to light them on stage.

"Lighter is better," Mitchell said she told her students at the Pinellas County Center for the Arts, housed at Gibbs.

Some black students thought that was a racially insensitive remark. DeLana Clark, the mother of one of those students, complained Wednesday to principal Barbara Shorter.

"I just can't believe an adult, for one, let alone a teacher, would say those type of things to a black kid who may be feeling insecure already," Clark said.

Mitchell, 47, has been placed on administrative leave with pay while the school district conducts an investigation. School officials won't describe the nature of the investigation other than it is "for allegations of inappropriate conduct in a classroom," said Jackie Spoto Bircher, an attorney for the school district.

Mitchell said her leave has nothing to do with a remark she made in theater class Tuesday. Instead, Mitchell said administrators think she was intoxicated at school, but she denies that.

She and other teachers are also preparing their students to compete with the best and brightest at college and universities such as Carnegie Mellon University, Boston University and New York University.

Mitchell, hired by Pinellas schools in 1988, said she was telling her students the truth about getting into show business.

"The world is ugly, okay, and the television, movie and theater industry is ugly," she said. "How can I teach when I can't teach what's true?"

But at least one white student wondered what her black friends would think after Mitchell said it was easier to illuminate pale skin.

"I just thought that could be taken the wrong way," said Jenelle McKee, 14. "I'm not sure how she meant it -- and I'm not trying to justify what she said -- she just put it the wrong way."

Mitchell's remarks about lighting also drew criticism from theater professionals.

"Neither is better," said G.B. Stephens, an associate professor of theater and the lighting designer for the School of Theater and Dance at the University of South Florida. "A good light designer will know how to make adjustments when lighting people of multiple shades on the stage at the same time."

Fanni Green, who splits her time between teaching at USF and working as an actor in New York, agreed.

She rattled off the names of several successful black actors, including Morgan Freeman, Cicely Tyson, Avery Brooks, Whoopie Goldberg, Andre Braugher and Sidney Poitier. Denzel Washington and Halle Berry recently won Oscars for best actor and best actress, respectively.

While the lighting incident has caused her controversy, Mitchell has earned high marks for teaching.

"According to Mitchell's evaluation, she is an outstanding teacher," said district spokesman Ron Stone.

In a May 2001 evaluation, the most recent available, Mitchell was praised for advancing learning, requiring written work and developing creativity through experimentation.

But this is not her first brush with trouble.

In August of 2000, Mitchell pleaded no contest to driving under the influence of alcohol. Her driver's license was revoked for six months, and she received a year of probation.

According to state education reports, Mitchell consumed alcohol with another teacher while on field trips to Nashville and Daytona Beach in 1989, and allowed students to drink alcohol. Pinellas County Schools suspended Mitchell for three days without pay in August 1990.

The State Department of Education also found her in violation of Florida and state board rules and gave her a written reprimand and three years of probation for the 1989 incidents.

At least one parent is pleased that the school district is investigating the incident.

"When it's just so blatant like that, they're should be some kind of repercussion," Clark said.

-- Researcher Kitty Bennett and reporter Alicia Caldwell contributed to this report.

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