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Wood County school aide suspended for racist posts

PARKERSBURG, W.Va. — A teacher’s aide accused of posting racist remarks on Facebook was suspended for 10 days without pay on Tuesday by the Wood County Board of Education.

The board voted 5-0 to suspend Tina Boston, a teacher’s aide at Martin Elementary School, following a closed-door discussion.

Board President Lawrence Hasbargen said the 10-day suspension without pay was made effective retroactively to Nov. 17. Boston will return to the classroom Dec. 5.

School system officials have declined to publicly discuss the posts which have been widely shared on social media. Boston appeared to have made several posts in an online discussion of the 2016 presidential election where she repeatedly used racial slurs and cursed at other posters who called her remarks racist.

The board held no public discussion of the issue, but Lish Greiner, a former Wood County resident, spoke  during the public comment period, saying she was upset Boston’s posts hadn’t prompted an outcry from the community. Of the eight public speakers Tuesday evening, Greiner was the only one who spoke about the online posts.

“What does that speak about our community that nobody else is here speaking out against racism?” she said. “I don’t think we want to appear that our community is racist, but that’s how we’re coming off.”

Greiner urged the board to take a public stand against such behavior and to re-evaluate the district’s social media policies. Greiner said the district has policies governing bullying and discrimination among students.

“If we expect that from our students, why aren’t we expecting that from our adults?” she said. “I think it’s important the board make their stance known.”

During comments at the end of the meeting, board member Rick Tennant said the board needed a more defined social media policy.

“I know we have a lot to do with that, social media,” he said.

The board also met behind closed doors to discuss incidents at Williamstown High and Parkersburg High schools where a link to folders of “graphic images of juvenile females” were shared among students via text. No discussion was held in open session.

The board voted 5-0 to renew the 30-day suspension without pay of Jacob Lee Dorton, an English teacher at Parkersburg South High who is facing charges for allegedly stealing prescription drugs. The board must renew the suspension every 30 days until the charges are resolved.

The board Tuesday also unamiously approved the expulsion of three students, all identified only by a file number, for one year. Two of the students were expelled for violations of the Safe Schools Act, which can include any offense involving weapons, drugs or violence, and the third was expelled for “engaging in criminal activity,” which includes illegal acts not covered under the Safe Schools Act.

See more from the Parkersburg News and Sentinel. 

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