A high school teacher in Saugerties, New York, is under fire after telling her students George Floyd died of a heart attack and drug overdose.
According to The NY Post, English teacher Hope Antonelli claimed Floyd’s death as part of a ninth-grade English assignment last Friday.
The assignment Antonelli gave students asked them to “create a bold topic/thematic sentence.”
The problematic assignment, which has since gone viral, stated that “George Floyd did not die because (Derek) Chauvin’s knee was on his neck.”
“He died from a heart attack and drug overdose. However, because Chauvin used excessive force and failed to render aid, he was convicted on all three counts by a jury of his peers. (Arrest was over a counterfeit $20 bill),” the assignment explained.
Antonelli’s assignment discussed juror Brandon Mitchell, explaining that he denied any involvement in BLM or protests against the officers in the case in any form.
“New evidence has surfaced that he could not have been forthcoming in his statements,” the assignment stated. “Should the Derek Chauvin case be retried because of Brandon Mitchell. Why or Why Not?” was the question posed to the 9th-grade students.
The assignment has provoked outrage from parents and launched a review by the Saugerties Central School District, but the superintendent wouldn’t confirm whether or not the teacher was facing discipline.
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