ESPN host Keith Olbermann has once again named officials from the Neshaminy School District the “Worst Persons in the Sports World.”
The nomination of district leadership came during Tuesday night’s program. During the segment, Olbermann touched on student newspaper advisor Tara Huber’s two-day suspension that started on Tuesday.
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“You may remember these guys as the dolts who are forcing their own students to use the school sports nickname, ‘Redskins,’” Olbermann said when starting off the segment.
The broadcaster called out the district for the suspension and mentioned that students planned to wear black ribbons to classes on Wednesday in support of the English teacher.
“If the purpose of education really is to make sure that the students eventually know more than their teachers, the people who run Neshaminy High School accomplished this no later than when these kids were in second grade,” he added.
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Olbermann’s slam came shortly after word got out that Huber was suspended without pay. Huber was suspended due to “willful neglect of duties and insubordination” and The Playwickian will have $1,200 taken from its student activity fund for the current school year, according to an internal email obtained by Philly.com.
The final edition of last school year’s newspaper was printed without the principal’s authorization and did not include an op-ed from a student that supported the use of the school’s Redskin name. The student editors allegedly did not include the letter because its use of the word, which they say is offensive to Native Americans. Students have said Huber was out of the room when they sent the paper to the printer.
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District officials previously told the students they did not have to use the word in their writings for the newspaper but could not censor it from other students submissions.
The school board passed a policy about the issue in June. The students said the policy was oppressive. One student editor said the newspaper staff was not going to “sit back and let this happen.”
Former Neshaminy School Board President Ritchie Webb and other district officials have been nominated as Olbermann’s “Worst Persons in the Sports World” on two previous occasions.
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Note: Publisher/Editor Jeff Bohen contribute to this report
