As if our teachers haven’t endured enough in the last couple of years—COVID-19, remote teaching, book banning, and rhetoric about critical race theory—now, one Black reading specialist in Virginia was escorted from her classroom in front of her students and colleagues in a case of unvarnished retaliation.
Dr. Sharon Gaston, who is Black, was the lead reading specialist at Taylor Elementary School, in Arlington, Virginia, NBC News exclusively reports. According to an online petition with over 1,000 signatures in support of Gaston, the teacher has worked at the school for over a decade. In that time she’s been appointed under two principals as a designee. After applying for a position as principal this year, she was ultimately rejected for the role, and the new principal stripped her of her designee role and applied to transfer her to a high school.
Gaston filed a grievance, according to NBC, and that’s when things got nasty.
RELATED STORY: White principal sues school district claiming she was ‘forced out’ over racist ‘slip of the tongue’