A suspended Starkville High School teacher will be returning to the classroom after a district investigation.
The Starkville-Oktibbeha Consolidated School District suspended Sheree Ferguson after a student reportedly gave a presentation using cucumbers to demonstrate proper condom usage in Ferguson’s English class on Nov. 12.
State law and school district policy forbid discussion condoms or demonstrating how to use them.
The district released a statement Friday saying Superintendent Lewis Holloway, assistant superintendents Toriano Holloway and Jody Woodrum, and SHS Principal David Baggett determined “appropriate disciplinary action” for the matter.
“While the condom demonstration that occurred during the presentation is a violation of Mississippi law and school board policy,” the release states, “the resulting personnel issues goes beyond that scope to include how the employee involved responded during an inquiry regarding the presentation.”
District spokesperson Nicole Thomas declined to elaborate about the response in question, citing a personnel issue. Thomas also could not comment on the length of Ferguson’s suspension, but confirmed she will return to the classroom.
“We consider the issue resolved,” the release states.
Ferguson’s suspension sparked a community outcry, particularly on social media.
A change.org petition titled “Bring Ms. Ferguson back to Starkville High” gathered more than 2,800 electronic signatures. The petition’s organizers did not respond to requests for comment from The Dispatch.
After the district announced Friday that Ferguson would return to the classroom, the organizer’s commented on the petition: “This was all we wanted to see happen. We felt terrible that anything we might have supported would have harmed a cherished teacher. We are so pleased that the school administration values their faculty!”
Friday morning, a group of 30 to 50 students marched at the school in support of Ferguson, changing “Bring Ferg back.”
Camryn Dawkins, a junior, said she came up with the idea to protest Ferguson’s suspension and worked with SHS senior Tyrese Kelly to get word out to students through the messaging app GroupMe.
“I was in the class when it happened and I just felt that what was done was perfectly OK, and that’s my judgment,” Dawson said. “I love Ms. Ferg to death. Ms. Ferg is the best English teacher I’ve ever had and we just wanted to take a stand as students for what we believe in.”
The petition alleges that a student gave a presentation on sexology for a career talk demonstration in Ferguson’s honors English class. The petition claims Ferguson did not know the presentation would include a condom demonstration.
Four years ago, the state Legislature passed House Bill 999, mandating that schools adopt a sex education policy — either “abstinence-plus” or “abstinence-only.” This was done in response to the state’s high rate of teen pregnancy, in which Mississippi ranked second in 2011, and sexually transmitted diseases, where Mississippi had the highest rate of teen chlamydia and gonorrhea in 2012.
SOCSD operates an abstinence-plus sex education policy, which requires boys and girls be separated into different classes when it is discussed or taught and prohibits instruction and demonstration on the application and use of condoms, among other stipulations.
District policy also states schools providing sex education are required to provide a written notice to parents no less than one week before the instruction occurs.
It is unknown if these policies were met prior to the Starkville High student’s presentation.
Alex Holloway was formerly a reporter with The Dispatch.
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