Philly student's Romney T-shirt likened to KKK sheet

October 03, 2012
By Jonathan Lai and Kristen A. Graham, INQUIRER STAFF WRITERS

Philly.com:

A Philadelphia teacher allegedly likened a student's Romney T-shirt to a KKK…

A uniform-free “dress-down” day at Charles Carroll High School in Port Richmond turned into a public dressing down for a student who chose to wear a pink T-shirt supporting Mitt Romney for president.

Samantha Pawlucy, a sophomore at Carroll High, said her geometry teacher publicly humiliated her by asking why she was wearing a Romney/Ryan T-shirt and going into the hallway to urge other teachers and students to mock her.

“I was really embarassed and shocked. I didn’t think she’d go in the hallway and scream to everyone,” Pawlucy said. “It wasn’t scary, but it felt weird.”

Pawlucy said she decided to wear the shirt after researching the candidate and President Obama and concluding that she’s a Romney supporter. Her father, Richard Pawlucy, said she was especially interested in Romney’s opposition to partial-birth abortion.


He said he recently registered to vote as an independent but was not involved in the Romney campaign.

Samantha Pawlucy The teacher then allegedly called a non-teaching assistant into the room who tried to write on the t-shirt with a marker. She allegedly told to remove her shirt and she would be given another one.

During the incident, Samantha Pawlucy said the teacher told her that Carroll High is a “Democratic school” and wearing a Republican shirt is akin to the teacher, who is black, wearing a KKK shirt.

The teacher could not be teached to comment. Fernando Gallard, district spokesman said an investigation is ongoing. He said the student had the right to wear the t-shirt.

Samantha Pawlucy said she felt publicly humiliated by her teacher and was initially unsure how to respond.

“I just laughed because I was nervous,” she said.

Her father said she was visibly upset when she returned home, but at first did not want to tell her story, for fear of retaliation from the school — suspension, being moved out of the class, or expulsion.

The student said she also felt shunned by classmates because she reported the incident to the principal.

“I have some friends that won’t talk to me anymore beause of it,” she said. “Because I told the principal what happened…they’re mad at me.”