Teacher who used racial slur quits job

Hours after he was reprimanded yesterday for using a racial slur last month in a conversation with a black student, a Cleveland High School teacher announced his resignation.

Brian Emanuels was disciplined but not fired by Seattle School District officials, who said that while the first-year computer teacher's remarks in the classroom were wrong, he had tried to make a teaching point to stop the use of discriminatory language in his classroom.

There was no evidence Emanuels had tried to insult anyone, according to William Bleakney, the district's human-resources director.

"His choice of words was inappropriate and unprofessional. But it's important to consider the full context for what was said," said Lynn Steinberg, a district spokeswoman. "He didn't mean any harm from it (the slur), and he was trying to drive home the important point that words can hurt."

After the announcement of the district's decision to give him a written reprimand, Emanuels said he was leaving Cleveland High because he believed staying might be distracting to students and the staff.

The resignation came as district officials confirmed Emanuels had had another run-in with students the same day.

Emanuels, a 15-year Microsoft employee before coming to the school's Infotech Academy to teach computer programming, had been on paid leave since May 9.

In a statement, Emanuels said he was pleased that officials understood he "clearly intended to teach tolerance and respect for all groups, not to cause harm to any student or group."

He thanked "the thousands of people, including many total strangers, and many people from the African-American community, who have come forward to express their support."

Critic blasts district

Carl Mack, president of the local chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), said he was pleased about Emanuels' resignation but was outraged at the school district's decision not to fire the teacher, calling it "one of the most racist decisions of recent times."

"What the Seattle School District did was set a precedent to give teachers a license to racially disrespect our children for nothing less than a slap on their wrist," Mack said.

The incident touched off a controversy and became fodder for local and national media.

On April 29, Emanuels, who is white, said he was offended when an African-American student used the term "gay" to describe a class assignment. He pulled the 16-year-old junior out of the third-period computer-programming class and asked if he would like to be referred to with a racial slur toward blacks.

When some classmates defended the student's use of the word "gay," Emanuels responded by saying to the class, "OK, how would you like it if I said, 'I guess the (slur) can come back in?' " according to district officials.

"I used the word, and right after, I asked, 'Is it OK for me to use that term? Of course not. It's a highly offensive word,' " Emanuels said last week.

A student in the computer class told his mother what had happened, and his parents contacted the Seattle chapter of the NAACP.

Another incident that day

School-district officials said yesterday that Emanuels was involved in another incident, in another class on the same day. Steinberg would not say if the reprimand took into account Emanuels' actions in both classes, nor whether a racial slur was involved in the other incident.

Emanuels denies he used any racial slurs in the second class.

Some students who were in the first classroom April 29 recall the events differently than Emanuels has described. The student who was pulled out of the classroom said Emanuels was hostile.

"He said it was very inappropriate to say 'gay' in class. I said I didn't know it was inappropriate. I say it all the time. This is the first time you are telling me I couldn't use it," the student recalled. (The students interviewed are not being named, at the request of their parents.)

He said the two argued a few minutes about the use of the term "gay," and then Emanuels became irate.

"He told me, 'It's like me saying (slur). How would you like me to call you a (slur)?' I said, 'What do you mean?' and he told me, 'If you say 'gay' then I can say (slur). All right (slur).' "

"Before I got into the class I heard him say (slur), and the whole class was looking at me and I didn't know why. I was like, 'What's going on?' "

Another student in the same class gave his account of Emanuels' return to the classroom:

"Mr. Emanuels came in and he said, 'All right, class, the (slur) is going to come into the class now.' At first people were just looking at him in shock."

The student said Emanuels then told the class that "For you to use the term 'gay' is like me to say 'these damn (slur)' if I was mad about something. How would you like it if I walked down the halls and said, 'Damn (slur). I hate (slur).' "

The student said he demanded Emanuels apologize to the class and to the student he had singled out.

Steinberg said the district was informed of the incident by Cleveland High School officials May 7.

In the second class, according to two students who were there, one student also used "gay" to describe an assignment.

After another student used the term, students say, Emanuels responded much as he had in the first class.

One student recalled Emanuels saying, " 'This is like saying this is so black or so Jew or so (slur)ish.' He said (using gay in that way) is like saying black is ugly. We were all thinking, what's this guy's problem? But he kept on going."

The mother of the student taken out of the first class said, "As a parent, I work hard to make him love himself and be confident in everything he does, and for someone to tear down all the work it's taken 16 years to instill in him, it's hard."

Nguyen Huy Vu: 206-464-2376 or vunguyen@seattletimes.com