In early November, a substitute teacher allegedly said racial slurs in a child development class.

Dr. Bertsch confirmed that a “staffing change was made” after students brought allegations against the sub, Julie Hudson, to the situation. Due to privacy issues, Dr. Bertsch could not publicly share further.

The incident happened during period 8, and according to Mylee Ward, a student who was in the classroom, the sub said a slur and tried to justify her behavior.

Ward said, “I heard her say, ‘Back in the day we used to call Native Americans prairie n—–s.'”

According to Ward, she also proceeded to repeat the n-word three more times, told her students that her racist behavior wasn’t that big of a deal and told her students to keep quiet about the incident.

Ward said the sub said, “Don’t go around telling people I’m racist.”

Another student who was in the classroom when the incident happened, Ayanna Poitra, confirmed that the sub swore and that the sub blatantly told her students she had racist thoughts.

According to the students interviewed, Hudson said these things completely unprovoked during work time. According to Poitra, before she said the racial slurs, she justified them, saying, “We are all racist in some way, if you’re saying you(‘re) not, then you(‘re) wrong.”

According to Ward, she said, “What, all I said was n—–.” In addition to this, Hudson continued to tell her class that saying that the word wasn’t that bad and that they needed to calm down because her saying it wasn’t that big of a deal.

Students in the classroom were uncomfortable because of this incident, especially since there were Black and Native students in the class.

Poitra said, “I was shocked and honestly didn’t feel safe because who’s to say she’s not thinking racist thoughts about me… I wasn’t sure I could still be in the same classroom as her.”

According to Ward, before she was fired, she was brought to the office to apologize to some of the students who were in the classroom, with the principal and assistant principal present.

In this situation, the substitute teacher was removed and administration said this about the process.

“When a concerning report is received by the administration, our first step is to conduct an investigation,” said Dr. Bertsch. “This often means that we spend time interviewing several students, teachers, or staff to gather facts and obtain an understanding of the situation.

“What is learned will determine next steps. A goal is to take situations and turn them into teachable moments (ex: use of restorative practices), although consequences are often imposed.”

Director of Equity and Inclusion, Tamara Uselman, confirmed the process.

Uselman said that when an incident like this happens, the administration would “work toward a healing process.”

“If both parties are willing and believe that they could work to find understanding (then) hopefully (they can) repair relationships,” she said.

Uselman also said that due to Fargo Public Schools’ no-tolerance policy for incidents like this, an investigation is mandated by the principal.

While Hudson was dismissed from the child development class, it appears that she is still on the sub list for Fargo Public Schools.

Sub shortages across the district and nation continue to plague schools.