Gallo said that the foot-tall Obama doll was hung from its feet from a white board and was holding a sign that said, “Fire Central Falls teachers.’’
“I was deeply saddened,’’ Gallo said. “It’s a horrific, a startling kind of picture when you walk in and see that.’’
She said that the teacher had been issued a “strong letter of reprimand’’ and that she considered it an internal matter.
Obama had called the firings an example of holding failing schools accountable. The White House declined to comment yesterday. US Secret Service spokesman Malcolm Wiley said that the agency was aware of the Obama doll, but declined to comment further.
Jane Sessums, president of the Central Falls Teachers Union, said that the teacher, whose name was not disclosed, hung the doll “as part of what he described as a lesson plan.’’
A spokesman for the union said he could not immediately explain what that meant.
The union has been fighting the firings at Central Falls High School, one of the state’s worst-performing schools.
All the school’s teachers, administrators, and support staff will lose their jobs after the end of the school year. Under a plan approved by the state to improve the school, fewer than half could be rehired next year.
Sessums said the teacher who hung the effigy apologized to his students verbally and asked Gallo if he could also apologize in writing. “He understands that his actions affect not just his students but all of us,’’ Sessums wrote. “There is no excuse for what he did.’’
Several students and recent graduates interviewed by the AP yesterday said they had not heard about the effigy, which was hung in an area used for the English-as-a-second-language program. They said they had not heard anyone express anger about Obama’s comments.
“A lot of teachers supported Obama,’’ said Karen Zuniga, who graduated last year and started a group to protest the firings.
“He hasn’t even been here,’’ said Jonathan Beltran, another 2009 graduate. “He doesn’t know what’s going on.’’
