Community Corner

Substitute Teacher At NC School Quits After MLK Suicide Claim

The Wake County substitute teacher told students that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. wasn't assassinated, but instead killed himself.

WAKE COUNTY, NC β€” A music substitute teacher at Rand Road Elementary in Garner, North Carolina has resigned after it emerged that she told students that civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King committed suicide, according to reports.

King was assassinated in Memphis on April 4, 1968.

The claims came to light Friday after a student told to his father what the teacher told the class, which was filled with mostly minority students, according to WSOC. The teacher allegedly also berated students clothing as β€œprison attire” and said if they did not support President Trump, then they weren’t real Christians.

Find out what's happening in Charlottefor free with the latest updates from Patch.

The remarks claiming that the assassination had been fabricated were made as the teacher was having a difficult time getting the class to quiet down in order to watch a video, the Huffington Post reported.

Several parents made complaints about the teacher’s remarks and the school district suspended the teacher’s status while it investigated the claims, according to the News & Observer. According to a spokesperson for the school system, the substitute teacher told school officials Sunday she no longer wanted to be on the list of substitute teachers.

Find out what's happening in Charlottefor free with the latest updates from Patch.

"For her to assassinate his character because of what he was wearing is sickening," parent Billy Byrd told the newspaper. β€œI don’t want anybody who is that irresponsible to be teaching in the school system,” Byrd said.

(For more news like this, find your local Patch here. If you have an iPhone, click here to get the free Patch iPhone app; download the free Patch Android app here.)

Photo via Shutterstock

Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.