Sacramento-area teacher says he’s being fired over a controversial basketball move on student
A middle school teacher who cultivated programs for Black students in Twin Rivers Unified School District is fighting his dismissal, contending he’s being unfairly punished over a one-off after school incident with a student he tried to help make the basketball team.
Jordan McGowan, a history teacher and basketball coach at Rio Tierra junior high school, further says his dismissal fits a pattern he experienced at the school in which he felt administrators showed signs of cultural insensitivity in discussions on civil rights and police shootings.
As far as he knows, his dismissal stems from an after-school practice with a Black student in which he practiced a common street basketball move that involves bouncing a ball off another player’s head.
“I am being fired for playing basketball in the ways in which Black people play basketball within our own community. I am being fired for playing basketball in a culturally appropriate way, when those in power have little-to-no cultural connection to our community,” said McGowan. “This is just a microcosm of what I and other Black People have experienced at Rio (Tierra) and the district at large.”
McGowan has been on administrative leave since Dec. 4. The school board on Tuesday was scheduled to vote on whether to dismiss him. McGowan’s supporters planned to rally for him prior to the vote.
McGowan has been teaching at Rio Tierra junior high school since 2017. He is the boys basketball coach and serves as the Black Student Union adviser as well as the History and Social Science Department Chair.
He’s held in high regard by colleagues and students, both former and current. He’s affectionately known as “Mr. Mac” on campus.
A representative for the school district declined to outline the reasons for the decision to dismiss McGowan.
McGowan’s public characterization of questions he faced during an investigation suggests officials pressed him on whether he has used a racial slur when communicating with Black students.
“Twin Rivers Unified does not comment on confidential personnel matters. Please be assured that all employment matters are handled with integrity and in accordance with all laws and our policies,” said Zenobia Gerald, Twin Rivers Unified School District, Director of Communications.
Leave followed one-on-one game
McGowan told The Bee that he developed a “tough love” relationship with the student who allegedly complained about the street ball game.
A campus security officer called McGowan after school one day and asked if the student could go to the gym for basketball tryouts with McGowan.
According to a public statement written by McGowan, he initially laughed and said to the campus security officer “how does this lil’ (n word) think he’s going to come to tryouts when he didn’t come to my class?”
The student overheard the conversation and responded by cursing at McGowan, according to McGowan.
McGowan brought the student to the gym and invited him to play one-on-one for a spot on the team.
“My intent was to turn this into a teaching moment. My intent was to bring this student in and redirect him in a cultural manner,” said McGowan wrote in a statement he posted online.
McGowan wanted to teach the student to keep his hands up on defense and he performed a street basketball move called “off the heezy,” where the player with the ball bounces it off of the head of the defender to distract them for an open shot.
The game was first to score 3, each point counted as one, and he did the move three times and scored each time.
According to McGowan, the student never expressed any issue with the moves in the game.
McGowan said he received the notice that the district was placing him on administrative leave within a few days of the game.
As the district’s investigation unfolded, McGowan wrote that human resources staff questioned his use of the n-word on campus, including whether he used the “r” at the end of the word.
Cultivated programs for Black students
McGowan has tried to cultivate empowering programs to support Black students. He has unsuccessfully lobbied for the school to create Black history and hip-hop history classes.
After a Minneapolis police officer murdered George Floyd in May 2020, McGowan held a virtual forum for teachers where he urged them how to “decolonize” their classrooms.
He felt some administrators and parents since then have been insensitive in their interactions with Black students, including asking students “what has made you happy today” after news broke that two Kentucky officers who shot and killed Breonna Taylor would not face criminal charges.
McGowan was frustrated that the school hired a diversity, equity, and inclusion coordinator who wasn’t Black despite requests for more teachers of color on campus.
And he said he was told to take down the posters of Malcolm X, the Black Panthers, Kwame Ture, and other like-figures.
Black students have expressed to McGowan that multiple teachers were consistently racist towards them in regard to discipline, enforcement of policies, and microaggressions.
Students to speak up
Current and former students plan to speak up for McGowan.
In an email to The Bee, Kaylene Pelayo, a sophomore in high school and former student of McGowan said she believes McGowan’s dismissal is a form of discrimination.
“Mr. McGowan is the support system many of us don’t have at home and someone all students on campus can trust with (their) personal issues. He understood us in ways (which) white teachers couldn’t,” said Pelayo. “His first offense is not worth him being dismissed. Other white teachers at Rio Tierra have done far worse and can still teach there.”
Another former student, Seyven Peete-Shaver told The Bee in an email that the punishment is “unnecessary” and “too harsh”.
He said McGowan is a caring and loving person, who understands people deeper than they know.
“Jordan should not only get a fair and lenient consequence behind the situation but still be able to come back and teach in the classroom because his type of genuine love and personality is beyond needed inside the teaching and learning environment,” said Peete-Shaver.
This story was originally published April 26, 2022 at 2:10 PM.
