Fall River teacher put on administrative leave after allegedly making racist social media post

A Fall River teacher has been placed on administrative leave after allegedly making a racist social media post.

On June 5, 2020, it was brought to Superintendent Matthew Malone’s attention that a special education teacher from Matthew J. Kuss Middle School was alleged to have made racist and bigoted comments on the social media platform, Facebook.

At that time, officials were able to piece together several screenshots of the posted commentary that were shared. FRPS immediately began a further investigation on Facebook, but by this time the posts had been removed and deleted.

Part of Facebook conversation in question obtained by Fall River Reporter

Using the evidence that had already been gathered, the teacher, who is believed to be Taryn Camara, was immediately placed on paid administrative leave per Standard Operating Procedures involving personnel investigations into potential wrongdoing.

According to a statement, an unnamed teacher was informed of the allegations and then placed on paid administrative leave status. Additionally, the leadership of the Fall River Educators’ Association was informed of the action.

The investigation is ongoing and active, according to the statement.

A joint Public Statement from the School Committee and Superintendent Malone issued the following comments.

“We can tell you that we are outraged by what we read from the Facebook screenshots, and we can confirm with conviction that the Fall River Public Schools do not tolerate any form of racist, bigoted, and/or hateful speech from any member of our professional community.”

We attempted to contact Taryn Camara for comment and did not receive a response.