Florida Teacher Resigns After Colleague Snatches Pictures Of Black Leaders From His Classroom Wall

A Florida teacher has resigned after his colleague removed photos of prominent Black figures from his classroom wall.

Michael James, a white ESE educator with the Escambia County School District, was preparing his classroom for incoming students earlier this week. While doing so, a board-certified behavior analyst and a behavior coach entered his class and began helping him reconfigure it to meet the needs of his students. According to James, the employees observed his newly decorated bulletin board behind his desk that featured photos of Black leaders such as Martin Luther King Jr., Harriett Tubman, Colin Powell, and George Washington Carver. Each image featured a short blurb about their contributions and achievements. The behavior analyst quickly began removing the photos but left the Pledge of Allegiance, which was also on the bulletin board. The employee allegedly told James that the images were not age-appropriate.

James being new to the district and reluctant to cause a fuss, initially remained silent but said the more he dwelled on the incident, the more it upset him. After some thought, he emailed a letter to Governor Ron DeSantis and Escambia County Superintendent Tim Smith on Monday. The following day, he officially resigned from his position.

The teacher, who has taught special needs children for nearly two decades, said he was “floored” by his colleague’s actions.

The 61-year-old explained that he chose the theme for the bulletin board because his students were primarily Black, and he felt it was important for them to see historical Black leaders that they could look up to. He also slammed the school board for not investing as much money into the school because it mainly consists of African-American students.

Escambia County School District launched an investigation and refuted James’ version of events. They claim that the employee only removed the pictures because the bulletin board had to be dedicated to state-required curricular materials. They defended the behavior analyst’s actions, stating that she thought the board was nice but knew that the “specific population of students” needed the instructional materials to be within their eyesight.

Despite what the school board called “inaccuracies” in his story, James says the behavior analyst never mentioned state materials needing to be on the board before she began snatching them down.