New York Teacher Accused of Racist Noose Pic Claims Anti-White Racism

A white Long Island, New York public school teacher accused of displaying a racially offensive image in her classroom, causing a national uproar and prompting calls for the firing of anyone involved, says she was cleared of all wrongdoing—but claims vengeful Black colleagues and school district officials have nevertheless continued to persecute her “because of her race.”

The photo, which was part of a larger display featuring teachers and students, showed a pair of hangman’s nooses under a caption reading, “back to school necklaces.” {snip}

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Three teachers were suspended; two without tenure were later terminated. {snip}

Now, in a bombshell lawsuit obtained by The Daily Beast, longtime social studies teacher Nancy Jones Doering has revealed herself as one of the accused. In the lawsuit, Doering, 48, says a hearing officer in October 2022 exonerated her of all charges—including interfering with the investigation by concealing evidence—and ordered her reinstated. Yet, Jones Doering not only claims she has been kept away entirely from students, her suit says she lives “in constant anxiety, stress and daily fear to herself and her family,” thanks to ongoing “false, fabricated and uncorroborated accusations and claims” that she is a “white supremac[ist].”

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{snip} The entire matter stems from a simple misunderstanding, according to Jones Doering’s lawsuit, which notes that the school district “is primarily composed of Black and African American members, while Claimant is White.”

On Feb. 6, 2019, the Roosevelt Union Free School District got word of “an offensive and racially infused collage… on display” in an unnamed teacher’s classroom—which Jones Doering insists was not hers—at Roosevelt Middle School, the lawsuit states. Administrators from the school district visited “that other teacher’s classroom, [and] inspected the collage, but failed to remove it or instruct that teacher from removing it,” the lawsuit contends.

The next day, Jones Doering “went into that other classroom to leave lesson plans for the students and saw the collage,” the suit goes on. “When Plaintiff saw that collage, she noticed the offensive nature of its content, and removed it from the classroom so that students and staff members are [sic] not exposed to it.”

According to Jones Doering, she then took the collage “back into her classroom and placed it in a locked cabinet.”

On Feb. 8, 2019, the other teacher told Jones Doering, who was the teachers’ union rep at Roosevelt Middle School—the alma mater of legendary Public Enemy frontman Chuck D—that she had been summoned to a meeting with Human Resources, and asked her to accompany her to the meeting, the lawsuit states. There, both the other teacher and Jones Doering were given letters of suspension {snip}

Jones Doering was formally accused of three things: displaying the noose collage in her classroom, interfering with an investigation by removing the collage and placing it in her closet, and bringing “negative attention to the school,” according to the suit. {snip}

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As a tenured teacher, Jones Doering was entitled to a so-called 3020a hearing, which requires the school district to prove “just cause” before terminating someone. The proceedings lasted 3.5 years, and concluded with a presentation to New York State’s Teacher Tenure Hearing Unit, where the school district “presented their best and strongest evidence and witnesses,” according to the lawsuit.

“The Hearing Officer issued an Opinion and Decision on October 14, 2022 exonerating [Jones Doering] of all Charges and accusations,” it says, “dismissing all such Charges and specifications in their entirety, and ordered Defendants to immediately reinstate [her] {snip}”

However, according to Jones Doering’s suit, the school district “ignored such orders.” When she refused to resign, the district removed her from her classroom and “forced her into an isolated small office, without any windows, without any ability to lock her door for safety reasons, defamed and publicly shamed her, and stripped her of all her duties and responsibilities.” The lawsuit states that the district replaced her in the classroom with a new social studies teacher who is Black.

“Defendants have targeted [Jones Doering] because of her race and have even invited and encouraged members of the community, including Reverend Mackey, to publicly attack, defame, shame and harass [her], the lawsuit alleges, noting that no Black teachers were “publicly defamed and had her reputation and name destroyed based on such false accusations.”

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