A teacher in Washington state alleges that he was recently fired for reading a passage from “To Kill a Mockingbird” to his class without censoring the n-word, according to the NY Post.
Matthew Mastronardi, a Spanish teacher at West Valley High School in Spokane, was recorded reading a segment from the 1960 Harper Lee novel that addresses themes of racism and injustice in the Jim Crow-era South.
In a detailed post on X on Wednesday, the Spanish teacher explained that he only used the slur as a
“teachable moment about context and literary honesty in reading”
when he heard students saying they felt they
“must ‘skip over the n-word.’”
He added.
“I was astonished and expressed disagreement, saying, ‘That’s silly; it undermines the book’s historical context and disrespects the author’s intent to use accurate language.’”
“A girl asked me in front of the class, ‘Would you read the word?’ I replied, ‘Yes, I would read every word.’”
Unaware that he was being recorded, Mastronardi, who acknowledged feeling
“nervous but committed,”
decided to read the passage aloud to his 30 students as a
“teachable moment.”
Just days later, he received a verbal warning from the principal, followed by an ultimatum to either resign or risk having his contract not renewed. After refusing to step down, he was issued a notice of non-renewal.
The school has consistently maintained that the decision was not solely related to the book incident; however, Mastronardi claimed that officials refused to provide any additional explanations.
“There are no parent complaints, no documented disciplinary actions and I’ve passed every teaching evaluation,”
he said.
#Clique, what are your thoughts?
