Family Outraged At Teacher’s Lynching Comment

The family of a local teen has filed a formal complaint with his school after a teacher’s controversial comment about lynching.

Tyler McIntyre, an eighth grade student at Folsom’s Sutter Middle School, says that on November 2, his American History class was collectively grading a test they’d taken on the U.S. Constitution. One of the questions was to define equality. The teacher, Woody Hart, he says, states that “equality means treating everyone equally,” and goes on to give the example, “like when you hang one Black person, you have to hang them all, that’s equality.”

McIntyre, 13, says every other student turned around and looked at him, the only Black boy in the room, eager to see how he’d respond to the teacher’s remarks. He’d been there before, feeling as if all eyes were on him, as he’s one of only a few students of color at the middle school. He says he’s gotten into arguments and fist fights with other students who have told him to “go sit in the back of the bus,” have called him the N-word and frequently use the racial slur in his presence.

“They think it’s fine to just use it,” he said.

After school on November 2, a “distraught” McIntyre told his mother what had happened in class. His mother then told his dad, when he got home from work.

“He didn’t want to open up, I gather he was embarrassed,” says Tyler’s father, Ty McIntyre.

The elder McIntyres each tried contacting different school officials. They said they were told by one official that Hart’s comments “didn’t come as a surprise” and that the only reason he was still in the classroom was “because he has tenure.”

“He thinks it’s OK to say these things without any regard to how anyone feels,” Ty McIntyre said.

Principal Keri Phillips told The OBSERVER that she was “still working on a response to the matter” before deferring to district spokesperson Daniel Thigpen for further comment.

“We take any and all complaints of that nature very seriously,” Thigpen said.

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