‘We Don’t Need Another Black President,’ Ohio Teacher Tells Student

America elected the first black president in the country’s 232-year history, Barack Obama, on November 4, 2008, setting off wild, joyous celebrations in the nation’s capital and in streets across the United States that night.

This week, a teacher in Ohio was hit with an unpaid suspension for telling a high school student that the country would be better off without a second one.

Gil Voigt, a 13-year veteran teacher at Fairfield Freshman High School in Fairfield, Ohio, was reportedly responding to an African-American student who told the teacher of his own ambition to be president one day, according to a report in Ohio’s Journal-News newspaper.

Traditionally, most teachers and for that matter, parents, would repeat the old adage that “In America, anyone can grow up to be president.” Obama, America’s first African-American president and the son of a single mother might be cited as proof positive that the cliché is true.

But Voigt would beg to differ. His response to his student? “We don’t need another black president.”

According to the Cincinnatti Enquirer, Voigt made the racist remark on December 3 in front of other students as well. Nonetheless, Voigt contended that the student misquoted him and that the student in question is, in fact, not a good one.

The student told his parents about Voigt’s remark and they complained to school administrators who investigated, interviewing four other students who also heard the offensive comment.

“This is a rare occurrence. This is the first time I’ve faced it since being named assistant superintendent (in 2011),” said Fairfield administrator Roger Martin, who held Voigt’s disciplinary hearing.

Maybe so. But it isn’t the first time Voigt has faced discipline for saying something offensive. He was warned for making a racially insensitive remark in 2008. Last year, he was received another verbal warning after he called a student “stupid.”

On Monday, Fairfield’s Board of Education suspended Voigt without pay and will later take up whether to fire him outright.

According to the Find Data web site, which contains salary information for public employees in Ohio, Voigt “earns a yearly salary of $73,566, which is 74.6% more than the average for all Ohio State Employees.” So it seems his expressed desire to not see his African-American student grow up to be president will prove costly to him.

“Obviously we’re very disheartened to have this situation with any of our staff members,” the school’s Superintendent Paul Otten said told the Journal-News. “It’s not something we’re proud of, and it’s something we must not tolerate.”

Voigt has 10 days to appeal the board’s ruling.