Fall River

Fall River Teacher Placed on Leave for Racist Social Media Comments

School district officials said they are "outraged" by the teacher's Facebook posts

File photo of a person working on a laptop
AP Photo/Elise Amendola, File

A middle school teacher in Fall River, Massachusetts, has been placed on paid administrative leave after allegedly making racist comments on Facebook.

Fall River Superintendent Matthew Malone and the Fall River School Committee issued a a statement Monday saying that school officials received word on Friday afternoon that a teacher from Matthew J. Kuss Middle School had allegedly made "disgusting, racist, and bigoted comments" on Facebook.

Administrators were able to find screenshots of the posted comments, which had since been deleted from Facebook. Based on the evidence they had, the teacher was placed on paid administrative leave and their access to school district information and email was terminated.

The teacher and the teacher's union were also informed.

The school district is conducting an investigation and said it won't have any further comments while that investigation is ongoing. The teacher's name was not released.

Malone and the School Committee said they are "outraged" by the Facebook posts and added that Fall River Public Schools "do not tolerate any form of racist, bigoted, and/or hateful speech from any member of our professional community."

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