Wendy Brilowski, Minnesota, Highland Park Middle School teacher put on administrative leave after being filmed using racial slur against black students during class.
A Minnesota middle school teacher at Highland Park has been placed on administrative leave after being filmed using a racial slur against a group of black students during class.
In the video caught on cellphone, Wendy Brilowski can be heard saying, ’I just walk around the room… just pick on them. They’re black. And they’re they only fxcking nxggxrs doing any work.’
Another staff member said ‘she’s repeating what you’re saying’ after the slur was used, but the roughly 20-second video does not show any students speaking prior to Brilowski’s comments.
It remained unclear who the other staff member was during filming in class.
The video was filmed covertly and was posted online by the parent of a black student who said she shocked and horrified by the language the teacher used.
It remains unclear what the context for Brilowski’s language was- with school district saying they are investigating.
The teacher claimed that she was repeating what had been said by someone else but it is not clear who that person is.
The ensuing language led to students in the classroom being stunned.
Wendy Brilowski racial slur result of ‘simmering tensions’ between students.
The clip has since led to wide distress amongst parents, with one mother saying, ‘It breaks my heart that I didn’t know the magnitude of the situation so that I could intervene before that video.’
School parent, Brandy Coleman, told KARE that the video was the boiling point of tensions between Brilowski and her daughter that had been simmering over the course of many months. Her daughter said that Brilowski previously called her and other students ‘negroes.’
Posted Saint Paul Public Schools Superintendent Joe Gothard in a statement: ‘No matter the situation, the racist and foul language used by a staff member in the video has no place in St. Paul Public Schools.
‘We will work to understand what happened and take immediate, aggressive action to address this situation.
‘Following this incident, we have a lot of work to do to repair harm and rebuild trust with our students and our community. We take that responsibility seriously.
‘We offer a sincere apology for the actions that took place in our building on Wednesday’.
Brilowski is a Spanish teacher. It remained unclear how long she taught at the school and whether there have been prior incidents.
