Race discrimination??

Question

I was recently terminated from a job in a private school. I have been out of college longer than the other first-year English teacher, and have more education experience than she does due to student teaching. I was told I was "not a good fit for the school" and that I "made some mistakes". Obviously, though, most teachers do in their first year, and my counterpart was no exception. Yet she was retained and I was not. She is white, while I am black. A Hispanic teacher and I were the only two not to have our contracts renewed. Is this a situation where I might be able to pursue a racial discrimination case? Please note that I am not looking for money as much as justice. Thank you!

Also today when I told the kids I wouldnt be returning they all asked why. The students expressed to me that they thought i was an amazing teacher and they didnt think i wanted to come back because i was better than the school paid. After telling them I DID want to come back they about 6 or 7 started crying expressing the fact that they thought I was the best english teacher theyve ever had.
We (the teachers) never had evaluations done by anyone.
Some issues were that the other English teacher was given a month to teach her honors students how to write a research paper for Science. I was given a week notice from the same Science teacher. I taught the lower level class. When I expressed that it wasnt enough time to go through the material on top of the fact that a science teacher should be able to teach it, I was told that I had do it. Told to cancel my other classes test so as to have time to correct the papers. This science teacher will be the Principal next year

Answer 1

They said you were not a good fit for the school and you made some mistakes. I would think that is a performance issue and not a racial one. It could be some of your opinions and ideas for teaching conflicted with the schools ideas.

Answer 2

It really depends on why they thought you were not a good fit for the school or why they believed that you made mistakes. If those mistakes were severe or your teaching style did not dovetail with the school's objectives (or if your students did not perform well), then can pretty much fire you and you will not have a case. Did you get a mid-year evaluation? How did it look? If it was critical then you likely don't have a case. If it said you were fitting in perfectly - then you have more basis for bringing a suit.

It would be helpful if you had access to the white teacher's performance report. However, due to privacy reasons this is unlikely to occur (unless he/she shares it with you).

Without more details it's hard to determine if you have a case. Does the school have a history of firing teachers who are not white? Try calling the Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division and asking for guidance. They may have detected a pattern of improper firing at this particular school, which may help you if you decide to bring suit.

I'd also just be aware that if you do choose to bring suit, it will bring your qualifications and your teaching style into a public forum. Every time you screwed up or said something inappropriate may be thrown back in your face. It can be kind of embarrassing and sometimes hurtful.

However, if you think that school officials were malicious and discriminatory than I urge you to discuss it with them before you bring suit. They may want to settle or they may have more complaints that they didn't want to reveal earlier for fear of hurting your feelings. Either way, its a good idea and shows that you made a good faith effort to deal with them.

Answer 3

If you and the Hispanic teacher were the only non-white ones, it certainly looks fishy. But you have to understand that when companies do such things, they know exactly how to do it: if they want to get rid of you, believe me, they were papering your file weeks or even months in advance with ammunition so they would not have to renew your contract. If you file a complaint with the EEOC, they will turn over to them a file full of "good" reasons to get rid of you.

Here is the other thing about racial and sexual discrimination cases: they are rather expensive to prosecute, and have unpredictable outcomes. Most attorneys will not take this kind of case on contingency. When my attorney boss used to do them, his minimum required retainer was $5,000.00. (He won't do them at all these days, for various reasons inluding the above scenario.)

It's up to you whether or not you want to file the EEOC complaint. The worst thing that can happen is for them to find the employer not at fault, and the employer will probably not give you a good reference for the next job after that. They can't say anything particularly bad about you, but they can go out of their way to not say anything nice. But if there are still other non-whites emplyed there, I would let it go altogether - because then it's nearly impossible to prove.

This is one of those times that I would weigh the pros and cons really carefully, because even if your gut feeling is right, you could still shell out several thousand to an attorney and get no satisfaction at the end - no money and no justice either. For my wallet, it would not be worth it, even on principle.

Answer 4

I don't see how you can determine racism played a part in your situation, only because you and a Hispanic teacher were released. I mean if you and a white teacher were released, would that make it less possible this were about race? You're still black so regardless of what happens to everyone else, any time you're slighted you can point to racism as the root of the cause. To go shouting racism each times something seems unfair undermines the struggle for equality and devalues legitimate claims. Go find a new job. Also, to future employers who catch wind of this, it may seem as though you are a difficult employee.

Answer 5

Maybe, maybe not. What mistakes did you make vs. the mistakes the other person made? Did you get along well with the other faculty/staff and students? Did you cause any problems, complain about policies, not follow the rules? If everything is equal, then you may well have a case. But even if it is, you can be sure the school will present evidence showing that they fired you for a good reason. Since you didn't have tenure yet, your case will be even harder.

Answer 6

Contact the EEOC and let them decide. Be ready with all your documentaion showing how you were treated differently from those of other races. From the other responses I can tell that lots of people think that race relations are a non-issue in this day and age, and that unfair situations such as what you describe don't happen anymore but they do. All the time. I'm going through something similar with the EEOC right now, who has determined that I was wronged. It's a long process but worth it.

Good luck and stay strong.

Answer 7

No.
Do you have any independent appraisal of your performance and the Hispanic teacher?

Any school is very aware of law suits of this nature so I am willing to beat you that it is well documented.

Do some real soul searching to see if there was something you did was wrong or didn't measure up. Be harsh on your self when you do that.

If not ask the school to explain why and prepare yourself to hear things about yourself you don't like to hear.

Last word of advice.

Tread lightly and don't burn bridges.

Answer 8

Stop looking to blame everything on race and accept the fact you were not picked. Maybe you really were not a good fit for the school. This is just ridiculous and I'm tired of this nonsense. I never looked to blame my color or background because I did not get a position.

Answer 9

Is this a religious school with certain employment stipulations? If there are no stipulations and the school lacks racial or ethnic diversity then contact your local chapter of the NAACP. The people at these offices can help you with your case or determine if you have one or not.

http://www.naacp.org/unitfinder/community.html

Answer 10

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 protects individuals against employment discrimination on the bases of race and color, as well as national origin, sex, and religion. Title VII applies to employers with 15 or more employees, including state and local governments. It also applies to employment agencies and to labor organizations, as well as to the federal government.