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ELK CITY, Okla. (AP) — The Elk City School Board has voted to remove a retired teacher's name from a school building after an incident in which the man presented a black colleague with a Ku Klux Klan robe and made racist comments at an Oklahoma City conference.
The Oklahoman (http://bit.ly/2brwDpr ) reports that Larry Long presented the robe to his colleague after asking him to join him on stage while speaking at the Oklahoma Career and Technology's Education Summer Conference on Aug. 2.
Long apologized for the incident and says he was trying to make a joke, and his actions weren't a reflection of his values as an educator.
The school board renamed the high school's agriculture building after Long two months ago. He had just retired after teaching agriculture for 49 years.
Last week, Elk City Public Schools Superintendent Rick Garrison recommended that the board remove Long's name from the building.
"While the building was named for a tenured employee, we do not condone the actions made by the former school employee during a recent CareerTech ceremony," Garrison said in a statement. "We feel the seriousness of those actions do not align with the district's philosophy."
School board president Brandon Storm says Long sent a letter to the board supporting his name's removal.
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Information from: The Oklahoman, http://www.newsok.com
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