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A Daytona Beach elementary school teacher has been suspended amid allegations that he used racial comments while talking to students.
The Volusia County School Board last week decided to suspend Billy C. Miles, a second-grade teacher at Westside Elementary School, for one day without pay in connection with an incident that occurred in April. Miles will serve the suspension on Friday.
According to school officials, a human resources employee with Volusia County schools was working as a substitute teacher and heard Miles tell his students that he didn't want to see his "black people" misbehaving in public and called the only white student in the class "white boy."
The substitute teacher reported the incident and provided a written statement to the Office of Professional Standards.
Miles, who's been teaching for 31 years, said that he's always joked with his students, telling them they cannot change their skin color, but they can change their behavior.
"I've always spoken this way, it's not racial," Miles said, according to a school report.
The student referred to as "white boy" said Miles makes jokes about white people and his classmates laugh when Miles calls him "white boy."
According to Volusia County Schools, Miles received an overall "high performing" evaluation in 2008 and 2009.
He was reprimanded and suspended for 10 days in 2005 for paddling a student on school property at the request of the student's mother, who witnessed the incident, school officials said.
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The Volusia County School Board last week decided to suspend Billy C. Miles, a second-grade teacher at Westside Elementary School, for one day without pay in connection with an incident that occurred in April. Miles will serve the suspension on Friday.
According to school officials, a human resources employee with Volusia County schools was working as a substitute teacher and heard Miles tell his students that he didn't want to see his "black people" misbehaving in public and called the only white student in the class "white boy."
The substitute teacher reported the incident and provided a written statement to the Office of Professional Standards.
Miles, who's been teaching for 31 years, said that he's always joked with his students, telling them they cannot change their skin color, but they can change their behavior.
"I've always spoken this way, it's not racial," Miles said, according to a school report.
The student referred to as "white boy" said Miles makes jokes about white people and his classmates laugh when Miles calls him "white boy."
According to Volusia County Schools, Miles received an overall "high performing" evaluation in 2008 and 2009.
He was reprimanded and suspended for 10 days in 2005 for paddling a student on school property at the request of the student's mother, who witnessed the incident, school officials said.
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