Black Teacher Who Opposed Minority Students Getting Away With Bad Behavior Wins Huge Settlement From School District

A black elementary school teacher who fought against the St. Paul School District in Minnesota for their practice of letting minority students get away with bad behavior won $525,000 in a settlement Tuesday night.

Aaron Benner filed a federal lawsuit in 2015, claiming that the school district basically made him quit his job because they investigated him four times in the 2014-15 school year despite the fact he had never been disciplined before. Benner had already been teaching for 19 years by 2014, when he and four other teachers told a board meeting that the district was not reprimanding students for their bad behavior. The Minneapolis Star-Tribune reported, “Benner, who is black, accused the district of failing black students by not holding them accountable for disruptive behavior. The district was being led then by Valeria Silva, who sought to reduce racial disparities in student discipline.”