Judge continues suit by black teacher punished after criticizing ‘white privilege’ lessons

ST. PAUL, Minn. – A U.S. District Judge refused to dismiss a lawsuit filed by a black teacher in the St. Paul school district who alleges administrators retaliated against him for criticizing the district’s ineffective, race-based school discipline policies.

U.S. District Judge Susan Richard Nelson denied a motion by St. Paul Public Schools to dismiss a lawsuit brought by Aaron Benner, a black former teacher at John A. Johnson Elementary, who sued the district in May after the St. Paul Department of Human Rights and Equal Economic Opportunity found probable cause the district violated his rights, the Twin Cities Pioneer Press reports.

Benner quit in August 2015 after a series of district investigations that coincided with him speaking out against the district’s race-based school discipline policies that he and other teachers claim are encouraging bad behavior, especially among black students.

The “restorative justice” discipline policies are a result of a push by the Obama administration to force school districts to address a disproportionate percentage of minority students suspended from school for bad behavior.

Instead of suspension, the “restorative justice” approach involves talking circles, counseling, and other ineffective solutions that result in unruly students sent back to class, where they continue to disrupt the education of the classmates.

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