Cheltenham HS Teacher Suspended Over 'Racially Insensitive' Comments

A Cheltenham High School teacher who allegedly made "racially insensitive" remarks in the wake of Donald Trump's election has been suspended from school, the school board announced in a letter to parents and the community on Wednesday.

An investigation is ongoing into the incident, the school board said, and declined to provide further details, including a name of the teacher.

"As this is a personnel matter, further details about the incident and any next steps in discipline of the teacher cannot be addressed publicly by Cheltenham School District," the letter states.

However, according to Philly.com, parents said the teacher, Stacie Stoops, told students to "stop bitching about being black," leading at least one student to leave the room in tears.

In their letter to the community, Cheltenham acknowledged the "wave of incidents" that spread across the country in the wake of the election.

"Both in our community and throughout the country, we have seen acts of

intimidation and discrimination, including by letter, graffiti and spoken word. Cheltenham is an inclusive and diverse community and school district, and we cherish the unique differences that make us so. We do not and will not tolerate acts of discrimination and intimidation of our students and staff, and the School Board and Administration are working diligently to ensure intimidating speech and actions are unable to take root in our school district."

The school board said that they have implemented a number of initiatives to help combat discriminatory speech.

Image courtesy Cheltenham School District.