Two Sulphur Springs Middle School teachers who thought some end-of-year “joke” awards would be funny later found that others were less than amused.
Dallas-based KDFW-TV reported that teachers Tim Couch and Stephanie Garner distributed “8th Annual Ghetto Classroom Awards” to an eighth-grade Special Education class.
Jerrika Wilkins, the mother of one of the students in the class, posted a photograph of the award given to her son, which was “The ‘huh?’ Award,” apparently given because the boy said “Huh?” frequently during class.
Sulphur Springs school superintendent Michael Lamb has told several media organizations that the awards were not school-sanctioned and that Sulphur Springs Middle School principal Jena Williams was unaware of the awards. The a photo of the “award” certificate shows “JW” initials written on a line marked “SSMS Principal” and a “G” initial on a line marked “Mrs. Garner/Mr. Couch.”
The two teachers presented certificates to all students in the class pointing out specific characteristics of the child’s school year, Lamb told KDFW. The “Ghetto Award” was the only one that was derogatory in nature, he said.
The school district issued this statement:
“SSISD is aware of a set of awards that were handed out in a Sulphur Springs Middle School class. These awards were teacher generated and only given to students in this teacher’s class. The awards are not endorsed by SSISD or Jena Williams, principal of Sulphur Springs Middle School. SSISD deems this action unacceptable and the matter is under investigation.
SSISD wants to apologize to anyone that was offended by this action.”
When Lamb was asked by Fort Worth-based KTVT-TV if he could appreciate how the “Ghetto” designation could be perceived as racist, Lamb said that he did.
“Yeah, I have an appreciation for that,” Lamb said. “There’s no doubt that not many will see it any other way.”
Jerrika Wilkins’ son is African-American.
KTVT also asked about the “8th Annual” designation, and whether similar awards had been given at Sulphur Springs Middle School in the past.
“It’s something this teacher did for six years in a prior district,” Lamb said. “It went unnoticed.”
Garner was a Special Education teacher in the Carrollton Farmers-Branch school district, KTVT reported. Carrollton-Farmers Branch officials told KTVT that they were unaware of any such awards and will investigate.
Couch is also pastor at Cross Branch Cowboy Church in Sumner, a town in Lamar County, north of Sulphur Springs.
