The Math Ain’t Mathing—Illinois High School Math Teacher Fired for Calling Black Student N-Word

Racism reared its ugly head in a high school classroom when a math teacher called a Black student the N-word—and that’s not even the whole story.

First-year Illinois schoolteacher, John Donovan, was caught on camera by students in his class at Kankakee High School when he referred to a student as a “Fu***** N*****.” CNN reported that the white teacher was terminated on Monday by the Kankakee School Board.

//racism
A Kankakee, High School teacher, John Donovan, has been placed on paid leave after using the hard R to refer to a student. He’s a first-year math teacher at the school who started in August.
The student was asking for an apology from an earlier event & it escalated. pic.twitter.com/R7vYM0I6r4

— ChudsOfTikTok (@ChudsOfTikTok) October 21, 2022

The teenager’s mother, Geraldine Nelson, said, “There’s no excuse for saying that word, especially to a 15-year-old,” according to WBBM.

The 10th-grade student, Michael Nelson, Jr., added that he was afraid:

“Because the word has never been used to me by a white man, or a Black man, or any type of race or person ever said that to me.”

The Nelson family’s attorney, Kevin O’Connor, told ABC 7 Chicago, “This is battery. He attacked him, and the school did nothing. The school did nothing to protect him.”

Donovan was placed on paid leave pending investigation when the Superintendent for Kankakee School District, Dr. Genevra Walters, learned of the video.

“We have to give the student and the teacher due process, and we have to follow the Illinois school code when we’re terminating a licensed teacher.”

Another view of the incident @ Kankakee High School with more context, if you can make out what they’re saying.
Sounds like he threw a book at the student in the incident that happened 3 weeks ago. pic.twitter.com/q6SIF8k4Jv

— ChudsOfTikTok (@ChudsOfTikTok) October 21, 2022

The incident reportedly happened on Oct. 20 and was the second run-in between the Black student and the teacher. According to CNN and a second video, the teacher allegedly threw a book at the student in September. Michael reportedly notified the school’s administration several times and his mother was told that the teacher would apologize for throwing the book.

Walters told CNN that she was not aware of the book throwing and does “not have any information that the book made contact with the student.” Walters also said she was not the only one in the blind about the incident, but it was the school principal and human resources department’s first time hearing about it when the video of the N-word incident was posted on social media.