The Dover High School teacher at the center of an uproar over a recent racist incident in the classroom will keep his job.
John Carver gave the class assignment late last year that led Dover students to sing racist lyrics to the tune of Jingle Bells. It was caught on video, and Carver was put on paid leave while the district investigated.
In a letter addressed to the community, Dover Superintendent William Harbron says Carver will stay on leave for the rest of the academic year while undergoing training in "issues pertaining to race, bias and privilege."
Then Carver will return to teaching and coaching in the fall.
In his statement, Harbron says the district “deeply regrets” the episode, but adds that it “sparked a necessary conversation among all educators in Dover” about providing a safe and sensitive environment for students.
“We acknowledge that we need to teach the hard lessons of our history as part of a robust social studies and civics curriculum, however the manner in which we do so must be done with respect and sensitivity,” Harbron says.
In a statement, Seacoast NAACP president Rogers Johnson condemned the decision, calling Carver’s punishment “little more than a paid six-month vacation.”
“We have not heard one utterance of contrition, an admission of wrong, or a heartfelt pledge by Mr. Carver that he would not do anything like this again,” Johnson writes. “We would like a further investigation into the history of this instructor to ascertain whether this individual has had other incidents of this type, either in the classroom or on the coaching fields.”
Dover has formed a steering committee—that they say includes the NAACP—to engage ongoing community programming about diversity.
The district says all its faculty, staff and administrators will undergo similar training to Carver's next school year.
