A white teacher in Pflugerville, Texas has been fired after having an "inappropriate conversation" with his students, school officials said.
Credit: Google
(CNN)
A high school teacher in Pflugerville, Texas, was fired, district officials said, Monday after a video posted on social media showed the white teacher telling students that their race "is the higher".
"Last Friday, November 11, Pflugerville Independent School District officials learned of an inappropriate conversation that a teacher at Bohls High School had with students during an advisory class," the Pflugerville Independent School District superintendent wrote. (PfISD), Dr. Douglas Killian, in a statement.
"As of Monday morning, November 14, the teacher in question was no longer an employee of Pflugerville ISD and we are actively seeking a replacement," the statement said.
Videos of the conversation in question were posted on social media last week.
In one of the videos, the teacher can be seen telling his multiracial class: "Deep in my heart, I'm ethnocentric, which means I think my race is superior," and the reactions of the students, inside and off camera, they are audible.
An off-camera student asks, "So the whites are better than everyone?"
The professor replies, "Let me finish. I think everyone thinks that. They just aren't honest about it."
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After some other discussion in the video, a student asks, "You said you're a racist, right?"
"I did, yes I'm trying to be honest," the professor replies.
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It is not clear what was discussed before and after the recording of the videos.
CNN has not identified the person or persons who filmed the videos circulating online and has not obtained the videos.
However, he did access the audio of a part of the recorded conversation of a father who said that his son appears in the videos.
In the audio, a student asks the teacher to repeat.
The teacher says, "I said, 'I'm a racist.' That's what I said. Do you know what that means?"
The students' responses overlap, and the teacher continues: "It means that, in my heart of hearts, I believe my race is superior. That's what it means to be racist."
A white teacher in Pflugerville, Texas has been fired after having an "inappropriate conversation" with his students, school officials said.
(Credit: Google)
The teacher in question has not been identified by PfISD, nor has the district provided any additional context around the conversation.
"We want to reiterate that this conversation does not align with our core beliefs and is not reflective of our district or our culture at Bohls High School," Killian said in his statement.
"The counseling discussion was inappropriate, inaccurate and unacceptable, and this type of interaction will not be tolerated at any PfISD school."
The superintendent apologized to the students and their families for any "undue stress or concern" caused by the comments, and to the parents whose children appeared in the video, without their knowledge.
The teacher, who was identified to CNN by the father, did not immediately respond to CNN's request for comment.
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