PFLUGERVILLE, Texas (KXAN) — School personnel records reveal it was a former Texas pastor and eighth-grade teacher who was caught on cell phone video telling Black middle school students “deep down in my heart, I am ethnocentric, which means I think my race is the superior one.”
The incident happened in November. The language arts teacher, who is white, resigned from Bohls Middle School in Pflugerville days after a video of the conversation was posted to social media.
In his resignation letter and statement to the district, the teacher said his words were “inappropriate” and had become “a lightning rod for ongoing division.”
“I did say that I no longer believed it to be true that my group is central,” the educator wrote in his statement to the Pflugerville Independent School District.
In a letter to district employees, PfISD Superintendent Douglas Killian said he was “disgusted” when he watched the video and “appalled at the interaction and statements.”
“The teacher, brand new to the campus and district this year, acted in a manner that harmed relationships with our kids in what should be a nurturing and supportive environment,” Dr. Killian wrote on Nov. 15. “Our staff members are neither ignorant or racist.”
One of the students in the classroom at the time told KXAN in November it was his “first time seeing, hearing someone say they are racist and admitting to it.”
Records show the district placed the former teacher on administrative leave before resigning and reported him to the Texas Education Agency for misconduct.
The district reported to TEA the English teacher made “comments that have been interpreted as being racially discriminatory” adding he “stated to students inappropriate comments similar to his race ‘white people’ being ‘superior.’”
According to state records, the teacher is still under investigation by the TEA Educator Investigations Division, but his certification still appears to be valid.
The former language arts teacher and the district did not return emails and messages Friday asking for comment. KXAN is not naming the teacher because he has not been charged with a crime.
In November, the district apologized to parents for the stress and concern the incident caused, and said the discussion did not align with its core beliefs.
