Wylie ISD faces backlash after assignment includes cartoon comparing police with KKK
CORRECTION: A previous version of this story included incorrect titles for Wylie Independent School District spokesperson Ian Halperin and Joe Gamaldi, who is vice president of the National Fraternal Order of Police. The story also has been updated to clarify that the school district did not release the teacher’s name.
Wylie ISD, a school district north of Dallas, is under fire after some students were given an assignment including a political cartoon that compared police officers to slave owners and KKK members.
The assignment, which school officials say was unauthorized, showed a five-panel cartoon that started with a slave ship officer with his knee on a Black man’s neck and ended with a police officer with his knee on a Black man’s neck while he said, “I can’t breathe.”
The incident comes after George Floyd’s death from a white Minneapolis officer kneeling on his neck sparked protest across the country calling for the defunding of police and the ending of systemic racism.
Wylie Independent School District spokesperson Ian Halperin told the Star-Telegram that the assignment was given in a Cooper Junior High social studies class where students were learning about the Bill of Rights and the political cartoon was supposed to teach them about political satire. The cartoon chosen by the teacher was not part of the district’s curriculum, he said.
The district did not release the teacher’s name.
After social media backlash and parental concern, the assignment was taken down.
“In hindsight, we say that they could have picked a more balanced approach,” Halperin said. “Editorial cartoons have a place in education, but try to present a more balanced approach as an educator.”
Halperin said the district has taken no disciplinary action as the situation is still under review, but officials have met with staff to provide them with better ways to present material under the district’s guidelines.
Wylie resident Amber Jennings said teachers shouldn’t be putting this material out, especially not to 13- or 14-year-old students.
“Don’t indoctrinate our children to think this way,” Jennings said.
Jennings, who has two kids in the district, but not at Cooper Junior High, said she’s taught her children to respect their elders, which includes police officers. But, if one day they want to believe differently about officers, they can make that decision without others forcing it on them, she said.
Although the incident happened in her school district, Jennings doesn’t blame Wylie ISD. She instead blames the teacher who gave the assignment. Instead of giving this assignment, the teacher should’ve focused on everyday life skills, she said.
Wylie Police Chief Anthony Henderson said in a statement that his department works to foster a positive relationship in the community and this assignment undermines and hurts the relationship they have worked to build with students.
“The last thing we want is for our young people to be scared to talk to us or confide in us,” Henderson said.
After the assignment surfaced on social media, Joe Gamaldi, vice president of the National Fraternal Order of Police, sent a letter to Wylie ISD superintendent David Vinson saying that the assignment was “abhorrent and disturbing.”
In the letter, Gamaldi said law enforcement tries to create a better relationship with children and teenagers every day, but their work becomes difficult when teachers present divisive material to students.
The National Fraternal Order of Police then tweeted that the district issued an apology and would issue one to parents as well.
“We are willing to sit down with anyone and have a fact-based conversation about our profession, but divisiveness like your teachers showed does nothing to move that conversation forward,” Gamaldi wrote.
This story was originally published August 20, 2020 at 5:27 PM.
