School Board Considers Action in Controversial Homework Assignment

A growing number of people are calling for some Gwinnett County teachers to lose their jobs after math questions for third-graders referenced slavery.

The Gwinnett County School District said they looking at possible punishment for teachers at Beaver Ridge Elementary.

Nicole Braxton said she and her husband, Chris, moved to Duluth last year was so their three young children could go to the elementary school. They said they now regret that decision.

They were outraged over a math assignment sent home to third-grade students last week. Once question asked, ”Each tree had 56 oranges. If eight slaves pick them equally, then how much would each slave pick? Another question asked, ”If Frederick got two beatings per day, how many beatings did he get in one week? Two weeks?" A third question in the assignment asked how many baskets of cotton Frederick filled.

Gwinnett County school officials said two teachers from the school created the questions as part of a cross-curriculum activity. Roach said the third-graders had just read a book on slavery in social studies, so the math questions were written to reinforce the history lesson.

Nicole Braxton said she doesn’t accept that explanation.

The school district said its human resources department is now conducting an investigation into the assignment.

Gwinnett County School Board member Dr. Kay Murphy told FOX 5 in a written statement, ”We expect our teachers will be sensitive to the meaning of words and the context in which they use them. That did not happen in this case.

Marlyn Tilllman with Gwinnett Parent Coalition to Dismantle the School to Prison Pipeline (Gwinnett STOPP) said the teachers should be fired.

”I can’t imagine that that whole third-grade team, nobody saw anything wrong with that. Nobody said, ‘I will not pass that out.’ That’s a problem, Tillman said.

The Braxtons said they will meet with school officials on Tuesday to demand action.

Community groups said they will demand accountability at the Gwinnett County School Board meeting next week.