A school library worker at Kashmere Gardens Elementary School in Houston has been suspended with pay after allegedly using a racial slur, grabbing a fourth-grade student by the feet, and dragging him across the library floor, verbally alluding to the current trial of three men accused in the fatal dragging of a Jasper, Texas, man last June.
PTA president Pireta Darby said in a February 7 Associated Press article that on February 2 William Price, who is white, told students at the predominantly black school “This is what happened to a man in Jasper, Texas, and this is what should happen to all [racial slur].”
Price, 48, who has been at the school since 1995, has denied the accusations in the Houston Chronicle. A Houston Independent School District spokesperson told American Libraries that a full investigation is underway and Price will be fired if the allegations are true. Although the newspaper referred to him as a “librarian,” officials said they believe Price is not a credentialed professional.
Posted February 15, 1999.