ROCKINGHAM COUNTY, Va. (WHSV) — Rockingham County Public Schools has hired an investigator to look into claims made by former students about a teacher at Elkton Middle School.
Former students from 2007 to 2018 have made reports of discrimination from the teacher.
An online petition with more than 3,500 signatures and dozens of posts claim, Thomas Harrison, made racist and discriminatory comments in the classroom for years.
Leila Husain, the creator of the petition, said when she was a student at EMS she felt she had no voice and does not want this to continue to happen for more students.
"It just wasn't right and that's not okay and I don't want kids today in his classes still experiencing that kind of discrimination and shame that me and my friends felt in his classroom," Husain said.
Attached to the petition are more statementsstatements from former students from 2007-2018 who felt discriminated in some way while in Harrison's classroom.
School Division Superintendent Dr.Oskar Scheikl said he was notified of the claims on June 2 and said they treated the claims as a third-party complaint against a staff member.
"The first step is to always get the investigation started and within a couple of hours I had additional emails from former students," Dr.Scheikl said. "I've emailed all parties involved back that we have started an investigation."
Husain said she is now working with the school division and the outside sourced investigator in providing statements and information.
"We need to make it clear there is no room for racism at our schools, there is no room for treating kids and staff members disrespectfully based on their ethnicity," Dr.Scheikl said.
Dr.Scheikl said due to the time span the investigation will take time but it is important to protect staff members and not jump to a conclusion.
WHSV reached out to Harrison several times for a comment but have yet to hear back.
There is also another petitiononline that defends Harrison and says the accusations are false.
At the last school board meeting before the claims were made against Harrison, the school board discussed needing to have an equity committee following recent events around the country to make sure every student is continued to be treated the same.
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June 16, 2020 at 01:41PM
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School division starts investigation on Elkton Middle School Teacher - WHSV
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