Charter school teacher says he was fired over book in lesson plan

CHARLOTTE — A teacher at a charter school in Charlotte says the school fired him because of a book in his lesson plan, and a newly filed lawsuit is alleging racial discrimination.

Markayle Gray is suing Charlotte Secondary School after he says he was fired for using the book in his 7th Grade English class during Black History Month.

The book, called “Dear Martin,” is about a Black teen who is racially profiled and arrested before symbolically writing to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The inside cover page says the book “boldly tackles American race relations.”

Gray’s attorney, Artur Davis, tells Channel 9′s Hunter Sáenz that the book was approved to use by the school’s principal.

“You’re not surprised in these times by these kinds of cases,” Davis said. He’s representing Gray in a federal lawsuit.

According to the lawsuit, it was the principal who “Recommended the novel to Gray as a challenging, but age-appropriate work that promoted a discussion of core American values like justice and equality.”

At least one county school district, Haywood County, took the book off a required reading list because of a parent’s complaint. The News and Observer reports that the book was challenged in Wake County Schools, but the district decided to continue using it.

“People can debate what ought to be taught in school; people can debate what the principal ought to be authorizing. But once the principal and the school authorize the book, a teacher should not be fired for following the guidance of the principal,” Davis told Sáenz.

So why was Gray fired? The lawsuit claims that in January, “white parents began to raise complaints to administrators ... that the content in ‘Dear Martin’ was divisive and injected ... unwelcome political views on systemic racial inequality.”

Davis says Gray was fired in February.

On Wednesday, attorneys for the school told Sáenz that since it’s a personnel issue, there’s little they can say about the case. They did say, “The termination of Mr. Gray’s employment was based on legitimate, nondiscriminatory, non-retaliatory reasons.”

The school’s principal says the book is still allowed to be used as long as it follows ELA standards for that grade level.

Gray is suing for backpay, front pay, lost benefits, and more.

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