Jan P. Hall was, until last week, a fifth-grade teacher at Sadler Elementary in Orange County, Florida. She was suspended for allegedly writing a "racist" letter to an unknown congressman. She hasn't admitted writing the letter, no copy of the original letter has been printed, and it's also questionable whether the content of the letter itself is "racist" or whether it's just politically incorrect but largely fact-based. There are also questions of the First Amendment here, but don't expect the ACLU to get involved. How did the letter become public knowledge? Is she allowed to send a letter to her congressman without worrying about political repercussions? Can the school district take action against her for her political speech? How far will the teacher's union go to defend her and protect her right to speak?

Several links about this are here. Jan Hall wrote the letter in English, but so far the only copy made available is one that was printed in El Nuevo Dia; it was translated into Spanish before being printed there. An automatic translation into English is here. Without seeing the original version, it's difficult to go through it point-by-point and find out what's "racist" and what's uncomfortable fact.

"Teacher faces hearing on letter" has more on this modern-day witch hunt:

The letter, supposedly written to a congressman, complained that Puerto Ricans, Mexicans, Haitians, Middle Easterners and others should not be allowed to stay in the country. The letter denigrated the education of Puerto Rican teachers and stated that "Puerto Rican children are holding back American children academically."

Is there evidence to support that assertion or not? Don't expect the school district to seek the truth, that would be "insensitive." What about the training of Puerto Rican teachers, as mentioned in "Teacher's suspension roils district"? Are they indeed weak in math? Is there evidence for or against that?

...[A parent] said she took offense when Hall suggested her daughter be evaluated for a learning disability. A final blow was that Hall directed her daughter to special-education classes and then to repeat the fifth grade...

Perhaps that student should be reevaluated then. If it turns out that Hall was incorrect, then there's a problem. If not, will she get her job back?

...However, another parent of a Sadler student said she had no complaints about the woman who taught her 11-year-old granddaughter...

The woman she met in the classroom did not seem like the one being portrayed as a racist on the six o'clock news, Brown said. The letter was published Wednesday in the Puerto Rican newspaper El Nuevo Día.

"It's like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde," Brown said. "I had met her. She wasn't arrogant or nothing. All the teachers were nice in that school. I have no complaints."

...Sadler Principal Anne Lynaugh seemed ambivalent Friday as she spoke about the case that disrupted her school's operations.

Lynaugh reported Hall to the school district for investigation and was the administrator to whom Hall confirmed that she had written such a letter. Although Lynaugh has condemned the contents of the letter, she described Hall as an "excellent teacher."

The principal said she had received no complaints about Hall, and that she was "a caring professional" committed to children...

And, from this:

Manuel Rodríguez, who identified himself as one of Hall's students, told El Nuevo Dia that during a social studies class last week, the teacher said that "Colombians bring drugs (to the country)." "I was very offended by what she said, because I am Colombian. That is not true about the people of my country," said the ten-year-old boy.

He added that he felt sad to some extent, because "she was a good teacher and she gave me an "A" in everything." But on the other hand, he was glad she was sanctioned, "because I didn't like her talking like that about Colombians."

At Sadler Elementary School, apparently we're to forget that Columbia is indeed one of the major drug-supplying countries. Just forget about that. It's not true. Look, a witch!