NY Teacher Under Fire For Telling Students George Floyd Died From Heart Attack
A Saugerties, New York high school teacher is receiving criticism after she reportedly told her students George Floyd died of a heart attack and drug overdose.
The New York Post reports that English instructor Hope Antonelli had her students “create a bold topic/thematic sentence” for an assignment for a ninth-grade class last Friday (May 7). It then claimed the 46-year-old told her students, as an example, that “did not die because (Derek) Chauvin’s knee was on his neck.”
“He died from a heart attack and drug overdose. However, because Chauvin used excessive force and failed to render aid, he was convicted on all three counts by a jury of his peers. (Arrest was over a counterfeit $20 bill),” the assignment relayed.
Additionally, Antonelli’s assignment discussed juror Brandon Mitchell, whose objectiveness the teacher called into question.
“New evidence has surfaced that he could not have been forthcoming in his statements,” the assignment stated. “Should the Derek Chauvin case be retried because of Brandon Mitchell. Why or Why Not?”
After learning of the assignment, parents have become outraged and a subsequent review of Antonelli has been launched by the Saugerties Central School District. It hasn’t been confirmed, however, whether or not the teacher faces disciplinary action.
