A Georgia high school teacher who allegedly presented the Confederate flag as "a sticker you put on the back of your pickup truck to announce that you intend to marry your sister," has been placed on leave.
Melissa Fuller, whose daughter is a senior at Hephzibah High School in south Richmond County about 150 miles east of Atlanta, said the message was displayed on a classroom whiteboard on Monday in a lesson about the concept of a story within a story. Fuller posted a photo of the message on Facebook, which also stated ”Think of it like a white trash 'Save the Date' card.”
The Richmond County School System did not immediately return a request for comment Friday.
The Augusta Chronicle reported an investigation was conducted, and the teacher was placed on administrative leave with pay, pending a review.
“The Richmond County School System is committed to creating a diverse, equitable learning environment for students,” the school district told the newspaper in a statement. “The language used in the example was unacceptable and has no place in our classrooms.”
Fuller declined to comment Friday but told WRDW-TV in Augusta, Georgia, that her daughter had sent her a photo of the message.
"She found it offensive, so she sent it to me and asked me what I thought," Fuller told the station.
Fuller said she does not believe such messages about the Confederate flag belong in a classroom.
Hephzibah High School is a small, rural school that as of 2016-2017 was predominantly black, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. Of the 1,019 students enrolled at the school that year, 606 were black and 329 were white.
