A California public school teacher was placed on leave after a video emerged of her wearing a Native American headdress and chanting in front of her class while teaching trigonometry.
The Riverside Unified School District teacher, allegedly Candice Reed, can be seen dancing around the class wearing feathers on her head and making tomahawk motions while chanting “soh-cah-toa,” the footage showed.
The chant is a mnemonic device often used to learn the trigonometric functions sine, cosine, and tangent.
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The footage was captured by a student in the class, and the John W. North High School teacher was placed on leave by the district.
“These behaviors are completely unacceptable and an offensive depiction of the vast and expansive Native American cultures and practices,” the Riverside Unified School District administration said in a statement. “Her actions do not represent the values of our district. The teacher has been placed on leave while the District conducts an investigation.”
As a half Native American I take this as mean, hurtful, and shows just how much you don’t know about our people. This is sad and shameful.
Yesterday a Native American student filmed this video in his Math class!This was taken at John W. North high school in Riverside, CA. pic.twitter.com/x3VL2gTia0— Kaya Jones (@KayaJones) October 21, 2021
Despite the district’s allegation that the teacher’s performance does not express its values, someone who claimed to be a former student of Reed presented images on Twitter of the teacher demonstrating the routine as early as 2012.
The dance, headdress and all, was even written about in that year’s yearbook, according to the student’s Twitter post.
John W. North High School shared this from a 2012 yearbook. This teacher Candice Reed has been doing this for awhile now. CLEARLY the school was fully aware of what she’s been doing and fully approved of this mockery. This is 2021 & we will find the truth to your lies. pic.twitter.com/aPfcqQunY4
— Tyonie Tiel (@TyonieT) October 21, 2021
“We are deeply committed to implementing inclusive practices and policies that honor the rich diversity of our district and the greater region,” the district stated. “We will be working with our students, families, staff and community to regain your trust.”
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Riverside Unified School District did not immediately respond to the Washington Examiner’s request for comment.
