Frenship ISD released a statement Friday related to the elementary school teacher who made a controversial Facebook post speaking favorably about segregation. The post included the hashtag #imnotracist.
“Frenship Independent School District has accepted the resignation of Karen Fitzgibbons effective June 12, 2015.” Frenship said. “Frenship ISD is a community-centered district, grounded in our history, our achievements, and respectful of our culture. Our district looks forward to focusing our attention on preparations for the 2015-2016 school year.”
Frenship initially said she would be “relieved” of her teaching duties. Later the district had to explain that the process of terminating her employment was started Thursday, but by no means completed. Then one day later, the district allowed Fitzgibbons to resign.
“The blacks are the ones causing the problems and this ‘racial tension,'” Fitzgibbons wrote on Facebook this week. “I’m almost to the point of wanting them all segregated on one side of town so they can hurt each other and leave the innocent people alone.”
She was writing about her frustration that an officer in McKinney resigned under pressure after he was accused of excessive force. The incident in McKinney was racially charged. Fitzgibbons’ Facebook page has since been removed.
Frenship made a previous statement Thursday which is copied below:
On Wednesday afternoon, Frenship Independent School District was made aware of a statement posted on a Facebook page by a Frenship ISD employee earlier this week.
Frenship ISD is deeply disappointed in the thoughtlessness conveyed by this employee’s post. We find these statements to be extremely offensive, insensitive, and disrespectful to our Frenship community and citizens everywhere. These comments in no way represent the educational environment we have created for our students.
The employee whose account is responsible for the post will be relieved of her teaching duties at Frenship ISD.
We hold our employees responsible for their public conduct even when they are not on active duty as district employees. Employees are held to the same professional standards in their public use of electronic media as they are for any other public conduct. This recent conduct was unacceptable.
Frenship ISD hopes communities, parents and students understand that these remarks do not reflect the views of our district, teachers and staff.
