An English teacher who misexplained ‘niggardly’ now faces a hearing to keep his job - The Washington Post
A thesaurus and dictionary. (Julia Ewan/The Washington Post)
“Words without thoughts never to heaven go,” said King Claudius in Shakespeare’s “Hamlet.”
Rochester, N.Y.-based English teacher Jim Quinlisk might have wanted to read that line.
His words, along with other allegations, have placed him at the center of a public termination hearing this week.
It all started last school year during a class reading of Shakespeare’s “Macbeth.”
A student stumbled upon a line in the play that included the word “niggardly,” according to the Democrat and Chronicle. Quinlisk paused the reading and started a class discussion about the word, according to WROC.
“Niggardly” means reluctance to give or spend, according to Dictionary.com. It can also mean miserly.
That’s not what Quinlisk explained to his class, according to WROC. He told them “niggard” is related to the racial slur, and he allegedly said the n-word multiple times during the discussion.
A professor at Thursday’s hearing testified that Quinlisk taught the word incorrectly and that the word bears no relation to the racial slur, according to WROC.
Quinlisk’s attorney, Jason Jaros, did not immediately reply to a message left requesting comment. Quinlisk also did not answer a call placed to a number registered to him.
[From 1999: D.C. mayor will rehire aide pushed to resign after using word 'niggardly']
According to the Democrat and Chronicle, Quinlisk told the class that words at their core don’t have the power to cause harm and that they shouldn’t allow the racial slur to have power over them.
A black student and her mother reported what happened to the school and requested that the student be removed from Quinlisk’s class, the Democrat and Chronicle reported.
Quinlisk also allegedly told a different student in front of a class that he couldn’t “take a vacation in the middle of the year” when she informed him of her study abroad trip in Israel for the spring, the Democrat and Chronicle wrote. Brighton Central School District will also make allegations of insubordination against Quinlisk at the hearing.
Employees in disciplinary proceedings such as Quinlisk can choose to have a public or private hearing, according to New York law. Members of the public had to be turned away from Quinlisk’s hearing, according to the Democrat and Chronicle.
[The n-word: An interactive project exploring a singular word]
The mass of people did not show up by accident.
The former newspaper reporter took out a classified ad in a local paper that notified the public of his case and encouraged them to attend in support of him, the Democrat and Chronicle wrote.
Quinlisk said nothing at the hearing. Jaros did most of the talking, praising Quinlisk’s time as a teacher and pointing to a teacher of the year award that Quinlisk had received.
The hearing is expected to conclude on Sept. 10, according to Dan Goldman, communications coordinator for the school district.
The hearing officer will have 30 days following the last hearing date to determine whether Quinlisk should be fired or disciplined in another way.
This wouldn’t be the first time the use of “niggardly” caused an uproar. In 1999, an aide to former Washington mayor Anthony Williams used the word in a memo talking about the city’s budget. He lost his job and was later rehired. In 2011, a drug counselor faced the same consequence.
In 2012, Sen. Sherrod Brown (D) was met with online controversy when he used the word on MSNBC to describe his fellow Congress members and their spending habits on veterans.
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