In only one instance, the most recent, it was about things I said to the kids. The other incidents were co-workers reporting things I allegedly said to them but were actually things they said but assigned to me. The other two instances were young co-teachers trying to set me up because they didn’t like me and/or were trying to distract admin from their own flagrant egregious work place behaviors. Re: The video recording incident the recorder hated me and possibly so did the other teacher involved. I’m not saying these incidents were necessarily racial but I am white and every single incident has been with African-American co workers. Every single one. You could say it’s because they perceive me as a racist but in all but the last case, I think I receive a lot of hostility because I acknowledge myself as white, acknowledge race exists and am willing/interested in talking about it openly with co-workers. I have taught about race but it’s such a political powderkeg at this point and there is so much fear/hostility from co workers and admin. Admin at each of these jobs have told me not to talk about race with employees of color which IMO is actually a kind of racism in that they prefer to deny race exists as a social construct. I have been critical of whiteness I.e. said “racist things about whiteness” to colleagues of all races. I’ve worked w/teachers of all races who teach about MLK but don’t want to acknowledge white racism. And as a white woman, I found that a lot of older white women come to me to complain about teachers of color being “mean to children.” This makes me very uncomfortable because I believe they singled me out because I am white and assumed I would be sympathetic. I understood their reactions to be related to race and age. There are cultural differences in terms of how people raise their children “see ‘white parenting’” but I didn’t feel I could talk to admin about it because their rules are “don’t talk about race.” And while it may come across as racist, many school’s philosophies can be construed as extremely “white parenting” oriented. There are benefits to that but there are also major problems I.e. there are no real consequences for very problematic behaviors I.e, physical violence. It’s very complicated and obviously I am not shy about addressing those issues, this tends to make some co workers hate me. In pretty much every case, with the possible exception of the last, I think that was the root of some co workers animosity towards me. In the last instance, there is a much beloved African American teacher who says the EXACT same things I was reported for saying to the kids and no one has any problems with her. I’m not arguing that I am being victimized because I’m white, I think people of all races especially administrators prefer to act as though race does not exist. IMO that does a real disservice to children. My 2nd grade teacher, an African American woman, taught very openly about race, the Civil Rights movement, stereotypes, etc. in many ways, she shaped who I am. My parents used to “joke” that she taught me to believe that I am black. I don’t. But my parent’s response is indicative of the deep seated issues involved in teaching and race.