Central Dauphin history teacher taught class, “All Trump supporters are uneducated”

Harrisburg, Pennsylvania – A lesson taught to 8th grade students by a history teacher in the Central Dauphin School District became the topic of tonight’s school board meeting. The teacher allegedly used a classroom discussion to target Trump supporters with hate, and led an otherwise politically and racially divisive conversation with the class.

On 9/14/23 a student from Swatara Middle School came home upset and told his mother about the discussion during history class, specifically mentioning how the teacher pointedly declared more than once, “All Trump supporters are uneducated.”

The teacher also allegedly requested from the class, “Raise your hand if every time you see a Trump supporter, you automatically think they are racist.”

The student’s mother, Emily Robinson, was able to corroborate these claims with numerous other students in the class. She made attempts with the district to discuss what happened, and arranged a meeting at the school that was attended by the history teacher, but quickly degenerated when the teacher walked out within the first five minutes.

Mrs. Robinson told Harrisburg100 she is now considering pulling the rest of her children out of the district schools. She went public with her story prior to speaking at tonight’s school board meeting.

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Last week, Mrs. Robinson wrote:

This post is specific to Swatara Middle School but pertains to the ENTIRE DISTRICT (Central Dauphin School District). It is lengthy but incredibly important. Please read my letter to the School Board, as well as the superintendent and assistant superintendents. Thus far, I am not satisfied that this type of prejudicial and unprofessional behavior is being addressed with the proper diligence it deserves. This is about the integrity of the teachers in our district. I have given it a week.

Preface: My son came home from school and told me about a discussion they had in Miss Porr’s 8th grade U.S. History class on 9/14. The discussion was about vigilantes and after discussing Batman, three slides of January 6th popped up and within the discussion, there were many comments made. Please see some of them listed below. Again, please take the time to read my letter before commenting. I am following the proper channels, and I believe this needs attention.

“Raise your hand if every time you see a Trump supporter, you automatically think they are racist.”
Out of 44 previous presidents, only 1 has a mugshot.
It was said multiple times that Trump supporters are uneducated.
An entire discussion on the F*** Joe Biden stickers on gas pumps, which ended in “Again, these people are uneducated.”

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Mrs. Robinson wrote this letter to the school board:

Dear Board Members,

I am reaching out to you today about a troubling event at my eighth grade son’s school, Swatara Middle School concerning a discussion in Miss Porr’s U.S. History class. I have forwarded you my initial shock after discussing my son’s day with him. It is not only the inapproriateness of the classroom discussion, as you will read below (and there is more…), but the inadequate response from the teacher and administration that I find unacceptable.

I sent my initial email (below) on Thursday evening. By Friday afternoon I hadn’t heard anything from anyone, so I called Ms. Smith, who picked up the phone. In a nutshell, she told me that Serell had gotten written up and was probably embellishing conversations that maybe the teacher had let get out of hand. After questioning him, he never got written up (later confirmed as a mistake by Ms. Smith’s misunderstanding of what Miss Porr said), and he denied saying the phrase in the context it was presented to me by Ms. Smith. She also told me that she had done her own investigation of 5 or 6 kids who confirmed what she was telling me. The stories just weren’t adding up and I wanted more clarity, so I sent the teacher another email (late on Friday, around 3pm) explaining that I still needed to clarify some things with her and would like a conversation with the teacher and my son present. I heard nothing. On Monday, I called and left voicemails for Ms. Smith at 8am and 12pm. At 3pm, I get a phone call from Ms. Smith with Ms. Porr on speaker phone, wanting to have a conversation. I told them that I wanted the conversation to include my son because he was the one that was there, and he was adamant about what he was saying. After trying to make it a team meeting, I advised them that the only teacher that needed to be present was Miss Porr. The meeting was set for 8:40am on Tuesday morning.

The meeting was a disaster. I was frustrated with the lack of communication by the teacher because this may have been cleared up with a simple phone call. When we start the meeting, I begin by asking Miss Porr straight-forward questions “Did you say…?” She denied the first question, to which my son countered by giving his version. I ask the second question, she denies it. By the third question asked and denied, I gave a disbelieving “laugh”. Ms. Smith immediately told Miss Porr that she was excused from the meeting because she would not tolerate her teachers being disrespected. Ms. Porr gets up immediately and before leaving inquires about a meeting for her rights as a teacher. This all happened within the first five minutes of our meeting.

What I expected from this meeting was an explanation of how this teaching lesson lined up with what the teaching objectives were for the day, as well as to find out if Miss Porr did, in fact, say these things in her classroom.

I understand that there are some controversial topics in History class, and I believe that political discourse is healthy, important, and needed. What I don’t expect is for a teacher to be blatantly biased in her presentation, as well as speaking as if all of this has already been decided in a court of law. I believe that this type of unprofessionalism gives teachers a bad name and should infuriate anyone, on either side of the aisle. I respect teachers and know that they are professionals in their field. However, I do not want any teacher in any classroom setting to impart their biased opinions onto the kids that they are entrusted to teach.

In such a divisive political climate, why would a teacher ask children to “Raise their hand if they think all Trump supporters are racist”? Isn’t that separating kids in factions and pitting them against each other? I also personally know of the consequences other teachers have faced when they have said things that visibly divided students into “camps” by hand-raising instead of having discussions that aim to show balance and critical thinking skills. What is the difference between that teacher and this one? I want an answer to that question.

I am angry that this happened in a classroom discussion. I am angry that the teacher was dismissed from the meeting without having to clarify what she said in her class on Thursday. I really would have hoped that Ms. Smith would want our instructional environment to be free of guided partisanship from the classroom instructor. According to Board meetings, PDE standards, and what is on HAC for parents to see, I am shocked at this detour in subject matter and how it was handled in class. I am also shocked at the lack of transparency, as well as discourse being shut down before answers could be found. I feel steamrolled, and I believe they are trying to accuse my son of lying so they won’t have to answer for this obvious lack of professionalism.

I would like an investigation to be done, and I want there to be accountability on the part of both the teacher and the administration. If you substituted the words and said something like this, “Raise your hand if when you see a Muslim, you automatically think they are terrorists” or how about, ” Raise your hand if you think all Biden supporters are uneducated”. Is that ok? Of course it’s not! It’s not ok on either side, about any subject. Prejudicial and biased opinions have no room in the classroom.

Thank you for your attention to this very important matter. I look forward to a quick resolution.

Sincerely,

Emily Robinson