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Board shortens Pinellas teacher's suspension

Members decide on an unpaid three-day penalty instead of 10 days for a Boca Ciega High teacher's use of profanity.

By THOMAS C. TOBIN
Published June 21, 2006

LARGO - The Pinellas School Board on Tuesday softened the proposed punishment for a high school teacher who used the term "black a--" when talking to a student.

Instead of the 10-day suspension without pay that superintendent Clayton Wilcox recommended, most board members said an unpaid three-day suspension would be more appropriate for Brian Guire, a teacher at Boca Ciega High in Gulfport.

The 6-1 majority said it did not appear that the remark was meant as a racial slight because the teacher was responding to a student who had used a similar term.

"What I see here is a teacher using the same word the student put on the table," board member Nancy Bostock said.

Mary Brown, the lone dissenter and the board's only black member, said the district pays teachers to act professionally toward students "no matter what the student does."

According to a report by the district's Office of Professional Standards, Guire was teaching an honors Algebra II class April 21 in which several students were not grasping a concept.

One student complained that her peers were stupid and were getting on her nerves. Guire told the student that her remarks were inappropriate and to consider that fellow students might find them annoying.

The student responded: "I don't care. They can kiss my black A." She did not use the profanity, only the letter.

Guire responded using the profanity: "I am now going to ask your black a-- to leave my classroom."

It is the third time in the last year that a Pinellas teacher has been disciplined for directing the term at a black student. Wilcox has taken a hard stand each time, saying racial remarks will not be tolerated.

According to the report, Guire said he "did not intend to make a racial comment."

Board member Mary Russell said she wanted to know whether the student was disciplined. Other board members said they felt the teacher was simply repeating what the student said.

"I think this is going really overboard," board member Janet Clark said.

But Wilcox disagreed, saying only the teacher used the profanity. He and deputy superintendent Nancy Zambito also argued that the remark was made worse by the fact that a classroom full of students heard it.

Wilcox and district staff attorney Laurie Dart also argued unsuccessfully for consistency, saying the other teachers received 10-day suspensions.

[Last modified June 21, 2006, 06:57:40]