LAS VEGAS (KSNV MyNews3.com) -- Cody Cris has only praise for his former history teacher at Las Vegas Academy.
Cris is now that teacher's student aide, the same teacher facing possible disciplinary action for allowing a student to wear a Ku Klux Klan costume for a presentation on the historically racist and violent group.
“I do think that he should have let him do it because specifically the point of the project was to highlight what the Ku Klux Klan was and the highlights of it were why they were bad,” said Cris.
Outside of the classroom is where a picture of the student in costume was snapped, spreading on social media and angering some students.
“A lot of the mixed people here, like I'm mixed, it's really, really offensive,” said Las Vegas Academy student Dasia Blanks.
But Cris countered most students were not offended.
“Most of the people were laughing at it,” said Cris.
Cris said he does not want the teacher blamed, because he said it was the student's choice to wear the outfit outside of class.
“I don't think he should be suffering any disciplinary actions simply because the student made a bad judgment on wearing the attire outside of the classroom,” said Cris.
His opinion is matched.
After News 3 reported Tuesday that the teacher could face disciplinary action, we received several emails and phone calls from parents and students defending the teacher.
It’s still up for debate, though, whether students should be allowed to wear controversial costumes at all.
Cris said he thinks they can serve a purpose inside the classroom.
“It's a part of history,” said Cris. “You can't change that.”
Cris does not want his teacher to go down for the decision to allow the costumes.
“He was actually a Latino studies teacher for a while,” said Cris about his teacher. “He's been really anti-racism. He's really kind of against that kind of stuff, and he says it really hurts to see that the stuff that he advocates helping to get rid of is stuff that he's being accused of.”
The Clark County School District will not release the name of the teacher involved or even tell News 3 if he will be punished.
The school district said it's unlikely the student will face disciplinary action.
The school's principal sent out a recorded voice message to parents apologizing for what happened.
