Teacher disciplined for ‘racial slur’ in Helias classroom

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) – Helias Catholic high school in Jefferson City is disciplining a teacher and coach after students reported that he used a racial slur during a class last week.

Helias Catholic High School’s president, the Rev. Stephen Jones, declined to release details about the discipline, saying the school can’t talk about personnel issues. He says the incident is under investigation.

Jones says that “racially charged language is never viewed as being appropriate certainly in educational context at all, much less in educational context within a Catholic school.” The school follows the Diocese of Jefferson City’s school policy, which states that personnel “shall not teach, advocate, encourage or counsel beliefs or practices contrary to the Catholic faith.”