After being investigated for allegedly allowing his female students to take down his braids, Marquis White, the Science teacher from Maryland middle school, has been cleared of any wrongdoing and is now set to return to work. His story went viral and sparked a heated debate on social media.
On May 5th, a video was shared on social media by a Maryland teacher, showing him sitting at his desk while a group of female students unbraided his hair. The video quickly went viral, sparking debates and controversy regarding the appropriateness of the teacher’s actions. Some argued that the teacher was providing a safe and creative space for his students, who had already completed their work for the day, while others found the situation to be inappropriate.
Rapper Cardi B was among the many who took to social media to express their support for the teacher. In her post, she stated that the teacher was a genuine person who was loved by the school community and should not face termination.
Cardi B, who has a young daughter and a young boy with rapper husband Offset, went live on Instagram to defend the Maryland teacher for allowing his kids to take down his braids. She added, “Since I have a daughter, I wouldn’t want my daughter to be around men, period.” When you have a daughter, your entire perspective on girls changes. We don’t have enough teachers right now, so I don’t think we should dismiss him.
Cardi went on to say, “You can tell the girls like their teacher, which indicates their peers do as well. “When you like your teacher, it motivates you to pay more attention in class and perform better,” the musician concluded. “He probably has a good relationship with his students.”
On July 5, two months later, the Maryland teacher returned to social media to express his gratitude to Cardi B for her support during his investigation. He also disclosed that his kids’ removal of his braids had cleared him of any crime. In the video, White said he was first frustrated by how “long, extensive, and arduous” the investigation took, but he finally became thrilled that officials took their time and assured that he wasn’t “an actual weirdo that slipped through the cracks.”
White also expressed gratitude to his local school community, his students’ parents, and the people online “who were more outraged” than his students’ parents. White went on to explain that he made a mistake by posting films of his students on his personal social media pages, despite “having parents’ approval” for the students included in his videos. He clarified that the school district forbids such conduct and imposed a five-day unpaid suspension on him.
White replied, “It’s understandable. I am not fired. I never got fired. I’ve never lost my job. The county came out and told me I had been reassigned. I was recently reassigned to my home. I was unable to attend school because they needed to investigate the allegations made against me. I was only at home on administrative leave.” He finished by saying, “I’ll be back at the school in August, doing what I do best: making learning fun and impacting the lives of countless students.”
