FORT WORTH, Texas _ A due process hearing in the case of Georgia Clark, an English teacher whose Twitter posts against immigrant students sparked a backlash on social media and prompted the Fort Worth school district's move to fire her, began Monday behind closed doors.
The hearing, which is before a mediator, is Clark's appeal to a decision by the school board to seek a "proposed termination" against her.
On Monday, several witnesses in the case arrived and waited at the district's board room complex, including Superintendent Kent Scribner and Jacinto 'Cinto' Ramos, the school board president. Witnesses were ushered into a closed room that is typically used for board meeting workshops.
Clark and several attorneys were in the hearing room.
The hearing stopped for a lunch break shortly before noon. Asked if she had a comment in the case, Clark responded: "I most certainly do not."
In May, as the school year was winding down, Clark called on President Donald Trump to enforce immigration laws on the Carter-Riverside High School campus, where she was teaching.
The tweets drew a sharp backlash on Facebook, Twitter and Reddit, where people accused her of being racist and bigoted. Many began asking the Fort Worth school district via social media to do something about Clark's posts. Some of the people complaining about Clark on social media, included people who described themselves as former students.
In June, the fort worth school board voted 8-0 in favor of a "proposed termination" of Georgia Clark, who was placed on administrative leave in May while the district investigated reports that she used racially insensitive language against students at Carter-Riverside High School on social media.
Clark, who has been working with the district since 1998, has a history of questionable behavior that was documented in internal summaries on file with the district's Office of Professional Standards, according to records obtained by the Star-Telegram through an open records request.
Clark was placed on administrative leave after the district was alerted about Twitter posts that she directed to Trump. A Twitter account using her name circulated a series of tweets that asked Trump to crack down on immigration at Carter-Riverside High School.
One tweet listed her phone numbers and asked Trump to help remove "illegals from Fort Worth."
Clark told a district investigator she thought the messages were private.
The case drew national attention to Fort Worth.
