A teacher at a public school in Georgia is facing accusations of using a derogatory term for students with Down syndrome in a social media post.
According to the local newspaper, a teacher at an all-girls school in the state of Georgia used the term “daddy” in a photo captioned with the words “good thing they have Down syndrome,” according to a Facebook post by the teacher.
The post, which was shared more than 5,000 times by Friday morning, was accompanied by an image of a woman who was captioned, “I love daddy.
He’s a great dad.
#DADIES #Downs” The caption was accompanied with a caption reading “Dads are the best dads.”
According to local news station WSB-TV, the teacher was suspended, and a complaint was filed against her on Tuesday, according to local media.
“A school board member was not available for comment,” the station reported.
“It is important to remember that all of the comments made by the teachers were very complimentary,” the Georgia Department of Education told WSB.
“These actions are being taken as a matter of policy to protect students’ well-being.”
WSB reported that a spokesperson for the school district said, “This is an example of the way that we operate as a school system and as educators, we have a very strict policy of no derogatory language or actions, but of course, there is always room for improvement.”
“This person did not do anything wrong,” the spokesperson said.
“We are taking action.
We are investigating the matter further and we are doing everything we can to hold her accountable.”
“We have never had a situation like this before,” the school board spokesperson said, according, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
The incident came just days after a similar incident at a high school in Wisconsin, which led to a teacher being fired for using the term, “pigtailed little girl.”
A Wisconsin teacher was fired after she used the word “pigeon” in social media posts about a student with Down’s syndrome, according the Wisconsin Tribune-Review.
In another case, a former high school English teacher in Pennsylvania was fired in June after using the word, “Pigtail,” on social media, and in the school’s newsletter.
A teacher in Illinois also faced charges after she was fired over the word in a Facebook video.