Wylie ISD Apologizes, Retracts Controversial Assignment that Compares Police to KKK, Slave Owners

Posted on August 21, 2020

WYLIE (WBAP)-A controversial school assignment at Wylie ISD is sparking outrage.

James Bono with the Texas Municipal Police Association says it was a cartoon comparing the officer who killed George Floyd to the KKK and slave owners.

“It’s a propaganda piece, it’s basically highlighting that law enforcement is the bad guy and it’s not something that we want to see in Texas..Our school resource officers in that district are not going to be look on in a positive light,” said Bono.

Wylie ISD officials say the assignment was made in several social studies classes at Cooper Junior High and it was not part of the district’s curriculum.

The District released an apology and retracted the assignment. “Wylie ISD is aware that a junior high social studies lesson taught at one of our schools included political cartoons that have been divisive in our community. These political cartoons portrayed in this lesson are not part of the district’s curriculum resources or documents. We are sorry for any hurt that may have been caused through this lesson. The assignment has been removed, and students will not be expected to complete it. We will continue to work with our staff to ensure content follows the state curriculum. We are proud of the partnerships we have with our law enforcement community and will work together to move forward.”

However Officer Bono said an apology isn’t enough and wants the teacher to be held accountable. “We would like to see more than that the assignment has been retracted..an apology from the teacher would be nice but  really what we would like to see is that the teacher understands why they are wrong and that it doesn’t happen again,” said Bono. “Cartoons like that aren’t factual or historical records…to show propaganda like that to young students and to show law enforcement in a bad light is just not something we can stand behind.”

Hear WBAP’S Kat Boonzaier’s story here: