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DUBLIN, Ga. (AP) — A central Georgia middle school teacher who criticized President Barack Obama and his supporters in front of students has been removed from the classroom, pending her upcoming retirement.
The Dublin Courier Herald reported Tuesday that city schools superintendent Chuck Ledbetter announced that Nancy Perry will no longer teach students at Dublin Middle School and will retire at the end of the year.
Ledbetter said Perry was already planning on retiring before a student's parents accused the teacher in March of telling her class Obama is Muslim and Christians shouldn't support him.
"On behalf of the School District, we want to apologize to the student and to his parents," Ledbetter said at a school board meeting. "It is not the place of teachers to attempt to persuade students about religious or political beliefs."
Jimmie Scott, the father who initially complained about Perry, addressed the community at the meeting, saying his family had been ridiculed and had racial slurs thrown at them. Scott is black and Perry is white.
"We've lost loved ones in the community because a line was drawn," Scott said. "Either you were for my son or you were for the teacher."
Ledbetter also apologized for the actions of Perry's husband, Bill Perry, who is a member of the city's School Board and attended a parent-teacher conference after the parents complained. Ledbetter says school principals are required to call the superintendent if any board member asks to sit in on parent-teacher meetings.
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Information from: The Courier Herald, http://www.courier-herald.com
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