The Texas teacher who came under attack over an eight-page handout that was purportedly “anti-Islam” has resigned from the Houston area school district where he was employed. The official announcement came at the Lamar Consolidated Independent School District’s (ISD) monthly board meeting on Tuesday night, April 14. Parents were not happy with this news.
Dale “Herby” Woolverton is the Foster High school government teacher under fire for the assignment that called Muhammad a false prophet, and Islam an ideology of war.
Woolverton turned in his resignation letter on April 8 once an investigation was launched over the assignment. However, the anticipated announcement of his resignation brought parents and community members out in droves on Tuesday night. There was an outpouring of support for the 20-year veteran teacher. One parent called him the “definition of what an educator should be.”
Many were there to attempt to have Woolverton reinstated in the classroom. They felt the district handled the matter unfairly. Parent Sean Davis told ABC 13,”If it’s going to move this way, I don’t want my child here.” He added, “I’ll take my child somewhere else.”
Another Lamar Consolidated ISD taxpayer, a woman, took to the microphone and told board members, “Our community has been outraged at the lack of support shown for this educator.”
Previously, district officials said they would discipline Woolverton for making independent changes to a lesson guide with information that went outside the curriculum. Despite the resignation, the matter remains under investigation, according to a district statement.
ABC 13 also reported that the investigation was triggered by a lone student offended by the handout. Her parents contacted the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR). Then, CAIR went to the school board, claiming that the problem with the handout was that the information on it was wrong.
Ruth Nasrallah, a CAIR Houston representative, was at the board meeting and reiterated that the advocacy group did not have a problem with “the open exchange of ideas — democracy requires that,” although she insisted that the assignment did not have the facts.
CAIR identifies itself as a civil rights organization. Breitbart News reported that CAIR has been associated with radical Islamist groups, such as the Muslim Brotherhood, which the United Arab Emirates (UAE) put on a terrorist organization list that also named CAIR and the Muslim American Society (MAS).
The district continues to assert that the teacher didn’t follow the state or local curriculum. Some parents agree.
Lamar Consolidated ISD’s statement also noted “Ensuring our students have access to factual information, given in the proper context, is a priority in our District. It’s important for the community to understand that we’re legally prohibited from commenting on the specifics of a student or staff issue.”
Mike Rockford, Executive Director of Community Relations for the school district, again expressed his disappointment over Woolverton’s actions to Breitbart News, although he failed to mention that in 2013, a Social Studies teacher on another Lamar Consolidated ISD campus, George Ranch High School, calendared in the viewing of the Islamo-friendly video 30 Days Living as a Muslim on February 7 and a Sharia Law class on May 13.
Breitbart Texas reached out to Rockford on last year’s lessons and is awaiting a response.
Follow Merrill Hope on Twitter @OutOfTheBoxMom.
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