Pearland ISD employee under investigation for slavery Facebook post
PEARLAND, Texas - An employee at Pearland ISD is now under investigation after making a post about slavery on her Facebook.
The Brazoria County NAACP is now calling for the district to take action.
An image posted on Facebook Tuesday with the caption “White Irish slaves were treated worse than any other race in the US. When was the last time you heard an Irishman bi***ing how the world owes them a living? You won’t.”
The person behind the post is Holly Hardwicke Kanipes. Pearland ISD confirms she’s a district employee. According to Pearland’s website, she’s is an adapted PE within the special programs unit.
Brazoria County NAACP President Eugene Howard says her post is not only factually incorrect but is disturbing for a special needs educator in one of the most diverse school districts in the state.
"It's another form of white supremacy in that our slaves are more or were more important than yours or have it worse than you are. And we all know the indentured servitude is not slavery," Howard said.
"Special education, those classrooms are geared more personally to the students' needs. So if you have an educator who doesn't feel like the need of a student is the same as another, it's unacceptable. The classroom is supposed to be a safe space for all children of all races to come together in line and be treated equal; where if you bring your biases, if you've shown us who you really are, it's been exposed and we need to look into how you're managing your classroom," Howard said.
The Brazoria County NAACP is now asking Pearland ISD to audit her grades and behavior practices with minorities. They're also demanding she make a public apology and volunteer with an organization like Black Lives Matter before returning to school.
"We're also asking that Dr. Kelly, the superintendent of Pearland, to adapt the Change the World initiative that the NAACP state conference has initiated, which is asking all local school districts within the region and within the state to adopt this African American curriculum," Howard said.
Pearland ISD Trustee Mike Floyd has served on the board for nearly three and a half years and says he’s dealt with a number of troubling and ignorant instances toward minority students.
"The shock of just how ignorant that the post was historically wrong and if a teacher is sharing that, that's one concern. Just because you had struggled doesn't mean that you know you can't equate what the Irish went through to what you know black people in America went through at all," Floyd said.
"All of our employees have freedom of speech. Anyone can put it out anything they want on the Internet. We teach our kids in our schools to be careful about what they put on the internet. I think all of our teachers, employees, staff members to follow the same advice," Floyd continued.
Last year, Pearland administrators and staff reportedly colored the scalp of a black student with Sharpie to allegedly fix an inappropriate haircut. The story made national headlines and resulted in a federal lawsuit being filed against school officials.
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Floyd believes additional sensitivity and cultural training is needed and well overdue in the district.
"I absolutely think that we need better sensitivity training for our staff members right now. The extent of that training, I think, is not sufficient as evidenced by a number of these incidents," Floyd said.
"George Floyd who changed the world is buried right here in Pearland. So it's an opportunity for the school district to be a beacon of light to the nation to show that we can grow and we can grow in the midst of our mistakes," Howard said.
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A spokesperson with Pearland ISD tells me the district is aware and is now looking into the claims.
FOX 26 reached out to the educator about her Facebook post but so far, have not heard back.