An Illinois teacher is under fire after district officials confirmed she sent a racist image to other staff members using her school email account. The Kankakee County School District 111 Board of Education moved to address the situation involving the special education teacher at Kennedy Middle S chool, Shaw Local reported. Kennedy Middle School in Kankakee, Illinois. (Photo: Kankakee School District 111) The board voted unanimously to oust Matson after she attempted to resign. School Board President Christopher Bohlen said the post was sent by email to a gaming thread that several teachers are part of. In the group chat, faculty members sent each other messages in a type of social “tag” game to boost morale. The image Matson sent featured wording that read, “ten little N-words.” “Some of the staff were playing a tag game, and, somehow, this material got included in the post,” Bohlen told CBS News Chicago. A staff member notified the school’s principal about Matson’s message, and the principal contacted the school district’s superintendent. District Superintendent Teresa Lance said Matson included an apology in her resignition letter, but the board rejected it and instead chose to terminate her to send a stronger message. “It was the fact that you felt that it was okay to communicate a message that was so indecent and insulting to our staff members and our students, though the email was not intended for students,” Lance said. This year marked Matson’s second year of teaching at Kennedy Middle. In 2023, the board fired another Kankakee teacher who was recorded calling a high school student the N-word in class. The board opting to fire teachers who engage in racial misconduct rather than accept their resignations is a move to send a message that the behavior has no place in its school district. “We’ve made that clear several years ago. That precedent still stands. It is extremely important we treat each other with the respect we all deserve, so the termination is a statement of that goal and standard,” Bohlen said. ‘Ten Little [N-Words]’: Illinois Teacher Exposed for Sending Racist Images in Faculty Chat, Tries to Resign Before It Blows Up, but the School Board Had Other Plans ...read more read less