Teacher Accused of Racial Insensitivity Is Reinstated

School officials decided Wednesday that a third-grade teacher in a predominantly black and Latino Brooklyn district could return to her students after being accused by some parents of racial insensitivity.

Ruth Sherman said she wasn’t sure she would resume her teaching duties and might request a transfer. Some parents denounced Sherman, who is white, for reading from the book “Nappy Hair” by Carolivia Herron, an associate English professor at Cal State Chico.

The book, which has been recommended by the Teachers College Reading and Writing Project at Columbia University, tells of an African American girl’s emotional journey of self-acceptance. She discovers that her hair, which is nappy, was given to her by God and is therefore OK.

“I was shocked and saddened. I dropped into a deep hole,” Herron said Wednesday, telling how she received a phone call earlier in the week from Sherman.

The elementary school teacher asked if she was doing something wrong and if she was reading Herron’s book correctly.

“You are doing something that brought self-esteem to a culture, to a group of children that needed something to relate to,” Herron, who is black, said she told Sherman.

She said Sherman asked if the fact she is white meant she was not supposed to read the book.

“Absolutely not,” Herron said she replied. “I’m black, and what if I didn’t read white authors? What kind of education would we have in this United States?”

The 27-year-old Brooklyn teacher’s problems began after she read the book to her class at P.S. 75 as part of preparing the pupils for a new team approach to reading. The approach stresses respect for individual differences.

Last week, a parent saw several photocopied pages of the book. She made additional copies and distributed them in the neighborhood.

On Monday, at a school meeting, some community members accused Sherman of being racially insensitive.

The teacher said about 50 people shouted racial epithets, and school officials had to escort her out of the building after she was threatened.

While school officials investigated, Sherman was temporarily reassigned from her classroom to other duties. The officials concluded the pages were taken out of context.

Herron said she planned to travel to Brooklyn in January to discuss the controversy.