Teacher leaves campus after students protest

Stephen Curran

Thursday, Feb. 17, 2005 | 9:41 a.m.

The North Las Vegas social studies teacher whose fiery play ignited a free speech debate earlier this year abruptly left the campus Wednesday after more than 100 students demonstrated in support of his controversial work, the school's principal said.

Ron Turner, a first-year social studies teacher at Canyon Springs High School in North Las Vegas, left school grounds about 8 a.m. Wednesday after roughly 100 to 150 students demonstrated outside the school in support of his play, "I've Got to Keep Moving."

Administrators later met with 10 of the protesters, who did not face any disciplinary action, to discuss their decision to alter the play but did not change their mind, Canyon Springs Principal Roger Gonzalez said.

The principal would not say whether Turner had been suspended or if he was removed from the premises but said the school's administrative team had "made arrangements to cover his classes" Wednesday.

Turner did not return messages left for him Wednesday afternoon and evening.

Mary Ella Holloway, president of the Clark County Education Association, said Turner contacted the teachers' union late Wednesday afternoon but had not filed a grievance. She declined to comment further.

Turner had co-written the play, which chronicles the historic struggles of black Americans and is expected to be performed by students at the school, Gonzalez said. It met with controversy earlier this year when school administrators asked Turner, who is black, to tone down the language in the script before allowing students to perform the work during this month's Black History Month programs.

"It was not the intent of anyone to change history," Gonzalez said. "History is history, but some of the scenes were too graphic and were not age-appropriate."

An edited version of the play is expected to debut at the school early next month, he said.

Gonzalez and Pat Nelson, a spokeswoman for the Clark County School District, would not comment about Turner's future with the district other than to confirm he was still employed there Wednesday afternoon.

The controversy surrounding Turner's play underscored the need for a more open dialogue about black history, retired teacher and principal Shirley Barber said.

Barber, the only black member of the Clark County School Board, said she had heard about Turner leaving the school Wednesday but did not know about the specific circumstances.

While Barber said she was unsure how she felt about Turner's play, her primary concern about the play was not the racial epithets themselves within its script but how people might perceive them.

"You hear students use this language but I don't think a lot of people understand what it means," Barber said. "Black kids use it but it's not the same as coming from a white person. ... We shouldn't continue to have some of the same concerns (about black history) we had years ago."