I think Phyllis Roberts is being treated a little too harshly.

She's the North Webster Elementary School teacher who "submitted an early retirement" this past week over a remark she made in class.

That "early retirement" jargon is a nice way of saying the Wawasee School Corp. is forcing her to retire.

Roberts is a 50-something veteran teacher of 31 years.

She apparently made a discriminatory remark in her third- grade class. The remark was overheard. As is usually the case in these matters, the superintendent and the school board and anybody else connected with the school - including the teacher herself - wouldn't tell us what this is all about.

Even the teachers union was mum about it. They had a meeting where 70 Wawasee teachers showed up. The union representative would only tell us that they "didn't think the administration handled the situation appropriately."

Lots of people in North Webster are upset about this.

They're passing around petitions in support of Roberts. A bunch of them plan to show up at the next school board meeting when the board is expected to accept her resignation.

Some teachers said they would wear black armbands in support of Roberts.

That's all because Roberts and her husband are well-respected in North Webster. I don't know them personally, so I asked around. I talked to several people from North Webster that I do know.

No one had a bad thing to say about her. They said she was a hard worker, dedicated. One person called her a "sweet lady."

Prior to this incident there apparently were no other problems with her at the school.

I received a phone call from a Roberts supporter. This person had a copy of a document that the school asked Roberts to produce.

The document spelled out what she said in class that got her in all the hot water.

So here it is, the basics anyway, read to me over the phone by an unofficial source.

Apparently, Roberts was doing a lesson on black history in the United States.

The lesson started out talking about slavery and how wrong that was. It ended with her telling the students that the only difference between blacks and whites is the pigments in their skin.

She told them that all human beings have loving hearts and that we should all love each other.

Somewhere in the middle of the lesson, she was talking about how difficult it was for blacks after slavery was abolished.

They had to strive very hard to get ahead.

There was a time line showing black achievement. It included people like Joe Lewis and Jackie Robinson.

The objectionable part was when she attempted to draw a cultural distinction between blacks and whites.

She said some blacks "treasure fancy clothes and nice cars over houses."

This is an obvious stereotype that should never have been uttered in a classroom.

No question about it. Roberts made a mistake. She used bad judgment.

She deserves to be disciplined. Suspended without pay, perhaps. A very stern "if you ever say anything like that again...."

But this really doesn't seem to me to be a case where an otherwise exemplary 31-year teaching career has to come to an end.

Frankly, there have been worse transgressions at Wawasee where people have retained their jobs.

Mark Stock, the superintendent, says the school has to have a zero tolerance policy in cases like this.

Could this be because of the infamous Klan quiz given at Syracuse Elementary last year? If you remember, the Klan quiz used the 'N' word - in writing.

Apparently not, because Stock told our reporter that he evaluated each incident as an individual situation.

Besides, the teacher who administered the Klan quiz is still working. Does this mean that Roberts' stereotypical comment is worse than a written Klan quiz?

Looks to me like there's a bit of a double standard going on here. How could the administration decide to keep the one teacher and "retire" the other?

I suppose it's because the school corporation wants to look tough. Like it's really cracking down. Like, maybe if there's some sort of litigation down the road, they can hold this up as the example and say, "We're doing all we can."

I understand what's going on here, I'm just not convinced that it's right.

Stock also said he is disturbed by the community's reaction to the situation. "I think the fact that a sizeable portion of our community does not see these issues as a problem is what makes this a problem," he said.

I think he's misreading the community.

People in the community see problem, they just disagree with the way he's handling it. [[In-content Ad]]