Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, March 23, 1993 TAG: 9303230258
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: MARY BISHOP STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
TEACHER PROTESTS LEAVE
A teacher at Franklin County High School who reported that students heard a white teacher use the word "nigger" last month says she's been put on a 10-day paid leave because of physical threats against her.Nadine Keen, an English teacher who heads the school's black-history programs, said Monday that she has protested the leave and wants to return to her classes with security provided by the school system.
Principal Benny Gibson would not comment about Keen's leave. He said he is prohibited from talking about administrative actions involving staff members.
Black parents and students began meeting last month to talk about racism in the school system after Keen said a white girl told her a white teacher cautioned her against interracial dating and expressed surprise that the student wanted to attend a "nigger" program - a Black History Month assembly.
Gibson has refused to talk about reports that the white teacher was put on paid leave for a few days. The teacher, through her husband, also has declined to talk about it.
Keen, who is black, said that white and black students warned her in recent weeks that "redneck" people had threatened her life and "were going to come after me." She said that no one threatened her to her face.
"There were some rumors around the school that a riot, an all-out shootout, was planned," she said. She said rumors were that students would bring guns and knives to school and that they would come after her.
Keen passed the rumors on to school administrators, Franklin County Sheriff W.Q. Overton and Rocky Mount Police Chief Butch Jenkins.
Jenkins confirmed Monday that Keen had told him of the reported threats early this month. "We basically just stepped up our presence when she came to school and when she left."
He said he passed the report on to school officials and did not investigate. He said there have been fewer altercations around the school than usual in the last few weeks. "Things appear to be on an even keel."
Keen said that Gibson had a faculty member walk her from her car into the school in the mornings, but after school, "there was no one." Against her objections, she said, students cut their last class to watch over her and escort her to her car.
On Friday, March 12, Keen said, Gibson and Associate Superintendent Florella Johnson told her she would go on 10 days of paid leave beginning Monday, March 15.
Keen said that a letter from Gibson dated that day said "we're concerned about your safety" and that of other staff members and students. She said the letter stated that the county sheriff's office "takes these threats seriously."
Overton said Monday that Keen called his office but they had trouble setting up a time to talk, and then he learned Jenkins would handle it.
Keen said she has written Superintendent Leonard Gereau to say she wants to come off the leave and return to school.
"If they can provide protection for the other 130 [school] staff, they can provide protection for me," she said in a telephone interview Monday. "If they thought it was so serious, they should have shut the school down."
Friday, Gereau sent her a letter by certified mail saying that he had reviewed the situation with local law enforcement officials and for her to remain on leave this week, she said.
Keen said she is set to meet Friday at 3:30 with Johnson and Gereau.
"All they want to do is gather things against me and try to fire me," Keen said. She said she has an attorney.
Keen notified administrators in November that she was resigning at the end of the school year. One reason she gave was that the school was not addressing racial tensions. She said Monday she wants to finish the school year.
The county School Board has scheduled a special closed-door meeting for 7:30 p.m. Wednesday. According to a legally required notice to the news media, the board will discuss "action regarding employee performance." There was no indication, however, that the planned meeting will have anything to do with Keen.
Gibson said Monday that the racial atmosphere at his school is not nearly as tense as recent newspaper and television reports have made it out to be.
"If anything," he said, "we've had fewer problems in the last two weeks than we've had all year, regardless of the rumors and all the media abuse we've taken."
Memo: shorter version ran in the Metro edition.