Garfield High School choir teacher Carol Burton has lost her job for failing to uphold district policies on a March field trip to New Orleans.
Superintendent Larry Nyland of Seattle Public Schools has fired a Garfield choir teacher for violating district policies while supervising a March field trip to New Orleans during which two teenage girls allegedly were groped by a male classmate.
Carol Burton, who has taught at Garfield High School for 14 years, said Thursday she expected to be fired Friday, based on what she had been told by her attorney. At 6:20 p.m. Friday, the district emailed a statement that confirmed Burton was correct.
In its statement, the district said Burton violated district field-trip policy by “allowing chaperones to consume alcohol, allowing boys and girls inside each other’s hotel rooms, ignoring curfew and no random room checks conducted after curfew.”
Students and parents have held rallies on Burton’s behalf several times, and an investigation also faulted another district employee for failing to let Burton or other Garfield staff know the male student had been expelled from another school for a similar offense.
Burton, who admitted to having two and a half drinks over five days, had asked for less-severe discipline and says she will appeal.