Resignation of Teachers Union Chief Demanded

Six black teachers from Hawthorne High School have demanded that the president of the Centinela Valley Secondary Teachers Assn. resign from her post, saying she made a racially inflammatory remark last September against the district’s black superintendent.

Hawthorne English teacher Charles Prater said Friday that the teachers also want union President Nancy Nuesseler, who is white, to write a formal apology “to every African-American” in the district for calling Centinela Valley Union High School District Supt. McKinley Nash a “Stepin’ Fetchit,” refering to a black actor in the 1930s who fawned over his white bosses.

Nuesseler said she has apologized publicly for the comment and would not resign. She said she is not a racist and hopes the black teachers can work with the rest of the faculty to address the district’s racial tensions.

Hawthorne High was the site last week of a demonstration by about 2,000 students, protesting racial allegations and the resignation of that school’s black principal. The state Department of Education sent a team of experts to the district Thursday to begin assessing the district’s racial climate.