Monday, May 24, 2010

Catherine Ariemma, Georgia History Teacher, Let Students Wear Klan Outfits

Catherine Ariemma, Georgia History Teacher, Let Students Wear Klan Outfits: ATLANTA — A North Georgia teacher is on administrative leave and could lose her job after she allowed four students to don mock Ku Klux Klan outfits for a final project in a high school class Thursday, administrators said.

The sight of people in Klan-like outfits upset some black students at the school and led at least one parent to complain.

Catherine Ariemma, who teaches the advanced placement course combining U.S. history with film education, could face punishment ranging from suspension to termination, Lumpkin County School Superintendent Dewey Moye said Monday. Ariemma has spent nearly six years teaching in the rural county about 75 miles north of Atlanta.

She told The Associated Press Monday that students were covering an important and sensitive topic – but one that she might handle differently in the future.