South Ogden Jr. High teacher speaks on racial slur, movie policy
South Ogden Junior High in South Ogden on Thursday, May 5, 2016.
South Ogden Junior High in South Ogden on Thursday, May 5, 2016.
Douglas Barker was sworn in as a member of the Ogden School Board on Jan. 7, 2015. Barker is also a teacher at South Ogden Junior High, in Weber School District, where a parent wants him fired for using a racial slur in April 2015 during a discussion about the word's use in a film about the Civil War.
SOUTH OGDEN — A history teacher who used a racial slur in a classroom discussion says he meant no harm, but was trying to educate students and prepare them to watch a movie about the Civil War.
Teacher Douglas Barker planned to show the film ”Glory” to his history class at South Ogden Junior High. The movie includes the repeated use of the racial slur, and Barker discussed it with his students.
Parent Holly Frye, who is black, found Barker’s use and discussion of the word offensive, according to an Associated Press report about the incident, and wants the teacher fired.
Barker said he discussed the slur with students Friday, April 22. Frye complained to the school and district at the beginning of the following school week. Barker said he doesn’t know how Frye learned of the discussion, but assumed her son talked to her about it.
Weber School District spokesman Nate Taggart said the district launched an investigation immediately upon receiving the complaint, which concluded on April 29.
“We are ready to put this behind us and focus on educating students,” Taggart said.
Barker told the Standard-Examiner he didn’t mean to offend anyone.
“I did make reference that this — the n-word — does offend people, and that’s why we don’t use it. So, I guess out of ignorance on my part, I said the word so they understood what I was saying.”
South Ogden Junior High has 818 students. According to Taggart, there are 30 black students, 608 white students, 19 Asian students, 141 Hispanic students, 7 American Indian students, and 13 Pacific Islanders. He did not have a breakdown for the students in Barker’s class during the incident.
Barker, who is white, said he didn’t mean to be insensitive or to hurt feelings when he discussed the use of a racial slur with students in class.
“I just told them we don’t use it any more,” he said. “I told them what it meant, and it’s offensive in society today, and always has been to people.”
The character portrayed by actor Denzel Washington uses the word several times in the film, and Barker said he was trying to prepare students.
“In historical context, I was explaining the word and why we don’t use it,” he said.
Barker said he also discussed how far the country has come since the Civil War, using as examples the appointment of Colin Powell as the first African-American secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice as the first African-American woman in that role and the election of President Barack Obama.
According to the Associated Press report, Frye said her 14-year-old son, D.J., no longer feels safe in Barker’s class because of the discussion. Attempts by the Standard-Examiner Thursday to contact Frye were unsuccessful.
Taggart said the investigation conducted by the school district included having students who were in the class write statements about what they heard and how they felt about it. District officials felt the students’ statements about how they perceived the incident backed up Barker’s explanation of what he was trying to accomplish, according to Taggart.
The Standard-Examiner requested copies of the students’ statements, but the request was denied by the school district. Taggart said the request was denied because of FERPA (the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act), which protects students. The statements are student records and thus protected, he said.
Parent Gwynne Gomez, who is white, said her daughter was in the class during the discussion and backed up the explanation given by Barker. Gomez said her daughter is of mixed race, Mexican and white.
“I think he’s an amazing teacher,” Gomez said. “I don’t think he should be fired from the school district for showing a movie I saw in school.”
Barker has not been fired, but Taggart said use of the term is not appropriate in any classroom context.
“Appropriate disciplinary action has been taken,” Taggart said, but would not elaborate, citing employee privacy rights.
Barker said he was on leave during the investigation and returned to the classroom May 1.
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“Glory,” released in 1989, is about the struggles and treatment of African-American soldiers during the U.S. Civil War.
Gomez said the only time she saw the movie was during a history class, when she was a student in Nevada.
“I’m OK with my kids watching that kind of stuff,” she said. “It’s our history.”
Taggart confirmed Barker was in violation of district policy when he showed the film. Policy 8400, on video usage, states junior high schools may show PG-rated videos with approval of the building administrator and written approval from parents.
“Glory” is rated R, but Barker said the version made available to schools is edited to PG standards.
“We’ve had it approved in the district in the past,” Barker said.
The violation, he said, was related to a change in the parent permission process.
“I didn’t know the policy had changed,” he said. “That’s on me.”
On the district’s website, policy 8400 is marked with a date of January 1997. There is no note on the page stating whether or not a change has been made.
Barker said he sent home a disclosure at the beginning of the year for parents to sign, stating that some PG movies might be shown for educational purposes.
“I thought that covered it, but the policy now states that for any movie that is rated PG there needs to be a permission slip sent home to parents,” he said.
Barker, who is also a member of Ogden School District’s Board of Education, said he’s shown the film in classes for about 10 years and this is the first complaint he’s had.
“We didn’t show the whole movie,” Barker said, explaining that he pulled this year’s screening when Frye complained. “I was being sensitive to the feelings of the parent.”
Frye wants Weber School District to provide sensitivity training for its educators, according to the AP report.
“Training is required for all employees yearly,” Taggart said in an email, but added he’s not aware of any formal training for history teachers regarding how to deal with offensive terms used during the Civil War era and other times in history.
Clay Rasmussen, an assistant professor of teacher education at Weber State University who has helped prepare future social studies teachers, said he doesn’t know if there is any direct training on how to handle the use of racial slurs in historical context.
“There’s always discussion of being considerate of others’ feelings,” he said. “The training is on how to address sensitive issues, remembering where we are today and also where we’re trying to go, trying to respect everyone and support everyone, and trying to learn from our past.”
You can reach reporter Becky Wright at bwright@standard.net or at 801-625-4274. Follow her on Twitter at @ReporterBWright or like her on Facebook.
