Getting punished for reporting wrongdoings is often one of the most ridiculous scenarios that can happen to a person in school. Ironically enough, in a high school in Des Moines, Iowa, this predicament happened to a school worker after she reported a student who kept saying racial slurs against Black people. The school’s authorities then forced their employee out as saying the racial slur was inappropriate, even though they asked her to repeat it.
Abraham Lincoln High School in Des Moines, Iowa, is the school in question, and according to testimony at a recent hearing early this November, Anne Eslinger was supervising a study hall on May 15 when a student began harassing another student and repeatedly using a racial slur for Black people. Eslinger told the student to stop and escorted him to the school’s student services center for potential discipline. However, while waiting there, the student continued loudly repeating the slur.
Eslinger attempted to get the attention of a discipline coordinator, asking, “Do you hear him? Do you hear what he is saying?,” transcript courtesy of Iowa Capital Dispatch. When the coordinator didn’t respond, Eslinger repeated the word herself, trying to convey what the student was shouting. The coordinator then intervened and removed the student.
Later, Eslinger was called into a meeting with district officials. The staffer explained what happened, apologized for repeating the slur, and emphasized she was only communicating the student’s behavior. She was placed on leave and told the next morning she could either resign or be fired under the district’s “zero tolerance” policy. She chose to resign, “I was completely surprised by their decision, I was really taken off guard. I was crying, I begged. I really loved my job.”
They wanted to deny her unemployment benefits
When Eslinger later applied for unemployment benefits, the district challenged her eligibility. Thankfully, the case went before Administrative Law Judge Patrick Thomas, who ruled in Eslinger’s favor on Oct. 8. Furthermore, Judge Thomas found that Eslinger’s single use of the word, in context and for reporting purposes, did not constitute disqualifying misconduct. So while Eslinger won this battle, it was a bitter victory, especially given the context.
Many people online have since sided with Eslinger, calling the incident “bizarre” as it somewhat distracted from the actual issue at hand. “Looks like the [expletive] ‘Zero Tolerance’ policies that punish everyone but the troublemaker get used against non-students too,” rants a Reddit user, with another replying, “I just can’t help but wonder why we have a teacher shortage in the United States. It seems like such a fun, healthy work environment.”
Some have thus mocked the school authorities, implying that what they did to Eslinger was akin to entrapment, “HOW DARE YOU USE THAT LANGUAGE WE JUST ASKED YOU TO USE! YOU’RE FIRED!” jokes another commenter. Abraham Lincoln High School’s overt bureaucracy has since been spotlighted thanks to this incident, though it’s not clear what happened to the student who was shouting the racial slurs.
