Racially charged Facebook posts by DOE leader vanish after AJC questions (Woodbine: appointed, house)

[Airforceguy]

I can't believe an appointed state official would post such vile crap on his facebook. State Superintendent Richard Woods needs to fire this man ASAP!

Look at the Facebook postings below from an associate superintendent with the Georgia Department of Education. (Heed the warning first about offensive images.) Are the comments and images appropriate for an official of the state of Georgia to post himself or allow to be posted on his public Facebook page, which anyone can access?

A concerned reader notified us of these posts by Jeremy Spencer, the associate superintendent of virtual instruction for DOE and the twin brother of state Rep. Jason Spencer, R-Woodbine. Before joining DOE, Spencer was a high school teacher in southeast Georgia.

You can read here about Richard Woods‘ hiring of Spencer last year for the $138,000-a-year associate superintendent job.

Spencer identifies himself as a DOE leader on his Facebook page and shares DOE news and announcements among his posts about minorities, guns, deportation of immigrants, Ted Cruz and Donald Trump. Many of Spencer’s posts speak directly to Georgia educators about DOE issues and programs, so he was aware his Facebook page was being read by teachers around the state.

Earlier today, I called DOE spokesman Matt Cardoza who was unaware of the posts and said he would find out whether they violated any DOE or state policies. I also sent copies of his posts to Spencer for comment.

Within 80 minutes of my calls and emails to DOE, Spencer’s Facebook page disappeared. As many teachers on the blog have stated, social media is a minefield that has to be navigated with caution. Spencer’s posts represent controversial content for anyone to post, never mind a high-level, high-profile state official.

Racially charged Facebook posts by DOE leader vanish after our questions | Get Schooled

[BR Valentine]

Originally Posted by Airforceguy

I can't believe an appointed state official would post such vile crap on his facebook. State Superintendent Richard Woods needs to fire this man ASAP!


Racially charged Facebook posts by DOE leader vanish after our questions | Get Schooled

I don't mean to sound cynical, but I'm not surprised can that someone in Jeremy Spencer's position would post and also allow others to post the garbage that appeared on his Facebook page.You would think that an Associate Superintendent would know what Georgia's professional standard is for educators (don't post anything on social media that you wouldn't post on the school house door), but then you have to take into account how he got his job and how fundamentally clueless many people are about social media.

Spencer should be fired tomorrow. Teachers have been fired for far lesser offenses on social media. However, I won't be shocked if Spencer isn't fired. I could see him receiving a reprimand and nothing more. And he's an imbecile. Sure, delete your account. That will remove all traces of your digital footprint ... or not. Moron.

[DreamerD]

I feel sorry for all the students who have/had teachers like this in their classroom. There's nothing worse and then you have the institution backing these teachers up instead of getting rid of them from the get go. Let's not forget the amount of power these teachers have. They're the ones grading the work.

[jeoff]

Pretty bad stuff for a government official or a teacher, and just shows a total lack of sense to boot.

[jero23]

The type of a-holes appointed like this guy let's you know the type of bigoted a-holes that are selected by the majority of the likely voters in this state. Non-white progressives and white egalitarians need to get out into voting on a regular basis so these type of morons are never appoint ever again.

[arjay57]

Outlandish! I'm glad they promptly fired this guy.

Racist and anti-gay to boot.

[red92s]

Originally Posted by BR Valentine

Spencer should be fired tomorrow.

Well predicted!

UPDATE Tuesday morning: The GaDOE has fired Jeremy Spencer. Read the statement here.

[CCATL]

I've seen plenty of people on this board say that racism and oppression in classrooms and by educational policymakers at the state level don't have an impact on student achievement. I hope incidents like this begin to help people realize institutional racism is real, it is in our schools, and it does have a negative impact on students. Imagine being a black, gay, or other minority student, and having a man like this as a teacher? Do you think he really believed that those students could achieve the same as white or middle class students? I highly doubt it, and that does have a tangible impact on those students, who are made to believe they are not as smart as their white or middle class peers. This man informed educational policy - policy that translates down into classrooms. You think those are free of racism? Hint: see the Governor's current push for Opportunity School Districts, or for teacher salary to be based on student achievement. This administration is clueless. It shouldn't have taken this one post for Spencer to be fired - as the AJC noted, he has a long history of racist facebook posts.

[JPD]

Originally Posted by Airforceguy

I can't believe an appointed state official would post such vile crap on his facebook.

I find it very easy to believe. Not surprising in the least.

[DreamerD]

Originally Posted by CCATL

I've seen plenty of people on this board say that racism and oppression in classrooms and by educational policymakers at the state level don't have an impact on student achievement. I hope incidents like this begin to help people realize institutional racism is real, it is in our schools, and it does have a negative impact on students. Imagine being a black, gay, or other minority student, and having a man like this as a teacher? Do you think he really believed that those students could achieve the same as white or middle class students? I highly doubt it, and that does have a tangible impact on those students, who are made to believe they are not as smart as their white or middle class peers. This man informed educational policy - policy that translates down into classrooms. You think those are free of racism? Hint: see the Governor's current push for Opportunity School Districts, or for teacher salary to be based on student achievement. This administration is clueless. It shouldn't have taken this one post for Spencer to be fired - as the AJC noted, he has a long history of racist facebook posts.

Yes, I can imagine. It's like you could never win no matter where you go. You're always having to pick yourself up after being thrown off the horse constantly. But at the end of the day, you haven't got a choice. You have to rise to the challenge or else you'll be another negative statistic.