A Duncanville, Texas, English teacher has been suspended over a tweet that has been described as racially charged. On Friday evening, the following tweet was posted to Vinita Hegwood’s account:
Who the [expletive] made you dumb duck ass crackers think I give a squat [expletive] about your opinions about my opinions RE: Ferguson? Kill yourselves.
- Off
- English
The tweet caught the eye of the school district, and Hegwood was suspended without pay. The school district issued the following statement in regard to Hegwood’s suspension:
Early this morning district officials met with Ms. Hegwood, the teacher who stated reprehensible personal opinions on her personal social media account. The district took swift action and exercised the fullest disciplinary action allowed under district policy. Ms. Hegwood was placed on suspension without pay pending discharge. Under state law, a school district’s Board of Trustees “fires” staff members, and the district will pursue that action with the board soon. In the meantime, the teacher has been placed on suspension without pay pending discharge.
The district wants the community to know that the actions of this one individual does not and should not represent the school district. Every day, two hundred and forty Duncanville High School teachers provide a school environment that fosters academic excellence, good citizenship and respect for others. Teachers give their life’s work to shaping the future, and this one individual does not represent our staff or our district.
According to Hegwood’s husband, there’s more to the story, but he did not elaborate when reporters asked him. Hegwood’s Twitter account has since been deleted.