Andre Agassi prep school allegation of racism

D

Dutch-Guy

Legend
The Nevada prep school named after and founded by Andre Agassi has been sued by a former biology teacher who claims he was treated like crap and FIRED because he's black.

TMZ has obtained the lawsuit filed by James Holmes Jr. -- who claims he was hired to teach 9th and 10th grade biology at Andre Agassi College Prep Academy in 2005.

According to his suit, things went smoothly for the next 3 years ... until the school hired a new principal in 2008 ... who allegedly favored white teachers.

James claims the principal refused to let him travel to a science conference ... blaming it on budget restraints. But James claims he later discovered the school head DID have funds reserved for other teachers who wanted to attend conferences ... and they all happened to be white.

James also claims the principal denied his request for new lab materials due to budget restraints ... only to find out the lab materials were ordered for two white teachers instead.

According to the suit, James says he filed a complaint with the school ... but officials retaliated by firing his ass and replacing him with a substitute elementary school teacher who wasn't certified to teach science courses.

James is demanding at least $75k in damages. Andre is not personally named in the suit.

A rep for the Academy tells us, "We will aggressively defend the suit because the case is baseless and without any merit."


Sourc: TMZ
 
S

sureshs

Bionic Poster
The place sounded too good to be true. I think it is staffed with Andre Agassi ass-kissers - at least that is how I felt when I saw them interviewed in a TV segment.

I have always wondered how the school continues with Agassi's name after he publicly admitted that he doped and lied about it to the ATP.

Also, I was never convinced about the 100% college-bound rate that I have heard claimed, because to me that indicates that someone is bullying college admission officers to admit kids from the school.

In general, I am in favor of all schools being given more attention, than only a few special ones. Agassi could have started a program which would benefit multiple public and private schools instead of starting an exclusive one.
 
Cup8489

Cup8489

G.O.A.T.
sureshs said:
The place sounded too good to be true. I think it is staffed with Andre Agassi ass-kissers - at least that is how I felt when I saw them interviewed in a TV segment.

I have always wondered how the school continues with Agassi's name after he publicly admitted that he doped and lied about it to the ATP.

Also, I was never convinced about the 100% college-bound rate that I have heard claimed, because to me that indicates that someone is bullying college admission officers to admit kids from the school.

In general, I am in favor of all schools being given more attention, than only a few special ones. Agassi could have started a program which would benefit multiple public and private schools instead of starting an exclusive one.
Click to expand...

college-bound doesn't mean college-accepted.. but i could see all the students, once given the opportunity to go to college, and chosen from their peers to attend the prep school, that the vast majority of them strive to continue in college.
 
C

coloskier

Legend
If you have actually visited the Academy, any racist claim would be very strange because it has a definitely majority of non-white students.
 
S

sureshs

Bionic Poster
coloskier said:
If you have actually visited the Academy, any racist claim would be very strange because it has a definitely majority of non-white students.
Click to expand...

I know. Andre opened it for that purpose - to serve the local kids and that demographic.

It does not say anything about racism though. It is a much more complex affair. The students may belong to one demographic, but the dynamics in the administration can be completely different, and that is where the power and job security is. One of the things you learn when getting trained on these issues is that stereotypes are often not true. Women can side with men against other women, gays can sexually harass each other, a company with a large percentage of women can still be full of misogyny at the Board level, and so on.
 
R

rommil

Legend
Dutch-Guy said:
The Nevada prep school named after and founded by Andre Agassi has been sued by a former biology teacher who claims he was treated like crap and FIRED because he's black.
According to the suit, James says he filed a complaint with the school ... but officials retaliated by firing his ass
Sourc: TMZ
Click to expand...


I think firing his booty might have been more appropriate way of putting it.



There's no way they are racist. I see a black kid on the bus in the Longines ad.
 
S

sureshs

Bionic Poster
rommil said:
I think firing his booty might have been more appropriate way of putting it.



There's no way they are racist. I see a black kid on the bus in the Longines ad.
Click to expand...

See my post above. You are young and naive.

Next time you see an oil company ad about its wind energy investments, don't think that they are not lobbying at the highest level to kill any alternate energy initiatives. Or that a company which kicks off an ad about a diverse group of people is not racist at the top levels. Here it is probably a matter with individuals though. Or of course it could just be an opportunistic lawsuit by a guy who wants to make a few bucks. Life is complex.
 
Cup8489

Cup8489

G.O.A.T.
sureshs said:
See my post above. You are young and naive.

Next time you see an oil company ad about its wind energy investments, don't think that they are not lobbying at the highest level to kill any alternate energy initiatives. Or that a company which kicks off an ad about a diverse group of people is not racist at the top levels. Here it is probably a matter with individuals though. Or of course it could just be an opportunistic lawsuit by a guy who wants to make a few bucks. Life is complex.
Click to expand...

i think that was partial sarcasm. Kinda like there's no way this country is racist, we have a black president. but alot of people in this country are extremely racist.
 
N

nereis

Semi-Pro
Dutch-Guy said:
The Nevada prep school named after and founded by Andre Agassi has been sued by a former biology teacher who claims he was treated like crap and FIRED because he's black.

TMZ has obtained the lawsuit filed by James Holmes Jr. -- who claims he was hired to teach 9th and 10th grade biology at Andre Agassi College Prep Academy in 2005.

According to his suit, things went smoothly for the next 3 years ... until the school hired a new principal in 2008 ... who allegedly favored white teachers.

James claims the principal refused to let him travel to a science conference ... blaming it on budget restraints. But James claims he later discovered the school head DID have funds reserved for other teachers who wanted to attend conferences ... and they all happened to be white.

James also claims the principal denied his request for new lab materials due to budget restraints ... only to find out the lab materials were ordered for two white teachers instead.

According to the suit, James says he filed a complaint with the school ... but officials retaliated by firing his ass and replacing him with a substitute elementary school teacher who wasn't certified to teach science courses.

James is demanding at least $75k in damages. Andre is not personally named in the suit.

A rep for the Academy tells us, "We will aggressively defend the suit because the case is baseless and without any merit."


Sourc: TMZ
Click to expand...

They can just claim that he was fired for being incompetent at his job or other mitigating factors involved. Unless they can find the smoking gun that refers to him as a '******' or have it so overt it's indefensible his attorneys have their job cut out for them.
 
C

chatt_town

Hall of Fame
that what is described goes on a lot. It doesn't mean it is true here. We will just have to wait and see. I learned from my father who was an EEO Counselor for a long time that people get descriminated against for all kinds of reasons. There doesn't have to be a tape of them calling him the N word. My dad is doing a case right now where a guy got the shaft after 24 years of spotless work according to his work record. In one year he gets a new supervisor and out the door the same year after 24 years of spotless work as a financial person overseaing a 2 million dollar budget. This sounds very simlliar. I asked my father what is it looking like and he said it looks pretty good. He's lost one case in 20 something years and he said it was his own.lol That was before he became the EEO Counselor for the place he was working. So I will watch this closely. I will say this though. Even if it is found that the school was wrong, I don't think that's a reason to say he is bad or even his school. He just needs to make the wrong right and get rid of the principal.

nereis said:
They can just claim that he was fired for being incompetent at his job or other mitigating factors involved. Unless they can find the smoking gun that refers to him as a '******' or have it so overt it's indefensible his attorneys have their job cut out for them.
Click to expand...
 
E

Emet74

Professional
sureshs said:
The place sounded too good to be true. I think it is staffed with Andre Agassi ass-kissers - at least that is how I felt when I saw them interviewed in a TV segment.

I have always wondered how the school continues with Agassi's name after he publicly admitted that he doped and lied about it to the ATP.

Also, I was never convinced about the 100% college-bound rate that I have heard claimed, because to me that indicates that someone is bullying college admission officers to admit kids from the school.

In general, I am in favor of all schools being given more attention, than only a few special ones. Agassi could have started a program which would benefit multiple public and private schools instead of starting an exclusive one.
Click to expand...


Who knows what happened with this individual teacher, but I completely disagree w/ your points about the school. I see nothing suspicious about the kids being college-bound; it's not difficult to get into college in the US if you have a decent literacy level. Anyone who does their homework on a regular basis at a half-decent school will be able to be admitted to college; not to mention that community colleges are open to everyone.

Giving $ to schools in general is pouring it down at rathole as they are badly mangaged and run. If you set up a private school with some standards, you can at least help the kids that attend it. I attended a small private school when younger, and when the graduates moved on to the public schools, we were all, from the best to the worst students, above average compared to the public school kids.
 
D

Deleted member 21996

Guest
i'm wating for the resident "Everything is about racism" brigade to chime in!
 
B

bluetrain4

G.O.A.T.
Whatever happened to best friend Perry after the falling out? I saw some documentary on Agassi which gave a lot of time to the creation of the school and Perry was instrumental in the process, and it was mentioned about a billion times how they had been great friends for so long.

But, then they had some big falling out with Perry suing Agassi or something like that. Whatever became of him?
 
Nostradamus

Nostradamus

Bionic Poster
coloskier said:
If you have actually visited the Academy, any racist claim would be very strange because it has a definitely majority of non-white students.
Click to expand...

school being majority black students doesn't mean that the new principle didn't discriminate. Just 1 or 2 bad apple in the lot can predispose the entire school to such lawsuits.
 
C

Caesar

Banned
Anyone who has ever had to fire someone will know how easy it is to be accused of impropriety. If you fire a woman, it's because you're sexist. If you fire an older person, it's because you're ageist. If you fire a minority, it's because you're racist.

Why? Because when someone gets fired it is 99 times out of 100 because they are not great employees. If they are not out-and-out liars then they often have difficulty acknowledging and taking responsibility for their failings. Blaming the employer is the natural (and normal) reaction.

As such I am skeptical of any sort of claim like this unless there is some sort of substantiation. I am sure plenty of people get fired by racist employers because they're black. But when the employer being accused is a school catering primarily to black students then I would like to see something more than the word of a disgruntled ex-employee.
 
Last edited:
PollyBallGirl

PollyBallGirl

Banned
bluetrain4 said:
Whatever happened to best friend Perry after the falling out? I saw some documentary on Agassi which gave a lot of time to the creation of the school and Perry was instrumental in the process, and it was mentioned about a billion times how they had been great friends for so long.

But, then they had some big falling out with Perry suing Agassi or something like that. Whatever became of him?
Click to expand...

Not sure. but in the Agassi book it says they've been best friends since before Agassi even went to the Bollettieri camp!
 
C

coloskier

Legend
Cup8489 said:
i think that was partial sarcasm. Kinda like there's no way this country is racist, we have a black president. but alot of people in this country are extremely racist.
Click to expand...

Yes, and most of them are not white. Unless you adhere to the tenet that only white people can be racist, which is so far from the truth it is laughable.
 
N

NLBwell

Legend
chatt_town said:
My dad is doing a case right now where a guy got the shaft after 24 years of spotless work according to his work record. In one year he gets a new supervisor and out the door the same year after 24 years of spotless work as a financial person overseaing a 2 million dollar budget. This sounds very simlliar.
Click to expand...

This happens to tens of thousands of people every year and has nothing to do with race. It has happened to me. It has happened to my next-door neighbor. You go on and find an even better spot.

In the OP, it seems that the administrator doesn't like the teacher and maybe didn't treat him fairly. 99% chance it had nothing to do with race. To prove racism, they have to show a pattern (or at least are supposed to). Two incidents over a year or two is meaningless. There may be much more evidence of racism than is stated here or the teacher may just be angry and willing to drag the school through the mud in order to get revenge and a few bucks. Either could be true; there really is no way to know from the outside - at least until and unless all the information is presented in court.
 
TERRASTAR18

TERRASTAR18

Hall of Fame
coloskier said:
If you have actually visited the Academy, any racist claim would be very strange because it has a definitely majority of non-white students.
Click to expand...

sureshs said:
I know. Andre opened it for that purpose - to serve the local kids and that demographic.

It does not say anything about racism though. It is a much more complex affair. The students may belong to one demographic, but the dynamics in the administration can be completely different, and that is where the power and job security is. One of the things you learn when getting trained on these issues is that stereotypes are often not true. Women can side with men against other women, gays can sexually harass each other, a company with a large percentage of women can still be full of misogyny at the Board level, and so on.
Click to expand...

Caesar said:
Anyone who has ever had to fire someone will know how easy it is to be accused of impropriety. If you fire a woman, it's because you're sexist. If you fire an older person, it's because you're ageist. If you fire a minority, it's because you're racist.

Why? Because when someone gets fired it is 99 times out of 100 because they are not great employees. If they are not out-and-out liars then they often have difficulty acknowledging and taking responsibility for their failings. Blaming the employer is the natural (and normal) reaction.

As such I am skeptical of any sort of claim like this unless there is some sort of substantiation. I am sure plenty of people get fired by racist employers because they're black. But when the employer being accused is a school catering primarily to black students then I would like to see something more than the word of a disgruntled ex-employee.
Click to expand...

did you actually read the article? he doesn't blame the school, he peaks about the principal. so the composition of the school is irrelevant.
 
TERRASTAR18

TERRASTAR18

Hall of Fame
NLBwell said:
This happens to tens of thousands of people every year and has nothing to do with race. It has happened to me. It has happened to my next-door neighbor. You go on and find an even better spot.

In the OP, it seems that the administrator doesn't like the teacher and maybe didn't treat him fairly. 99% chance it had nothing to do with race. To prove racism, they have to show a pattern (or at least are supposed to). Two incidents over a year or two is meaningless. There may be much more evidence of racism than is stated here or the teacher may just be angry and willing to drag the school through the mud in order to get revenge and a few bucks. Either could be true; there really is no way to know from the outside - at least until and unless all the information is presented in court.
Click to expand...

that's the only part of your post i agree with.
 
C

chatt_town

Hall of Fame
I think I stated earlier that race is not the only factor. Gender can play a part and it happens a lot. The thing is this. When it does happen and it can be proven, something needs to be done about it. Like I said. Dad has done a lot of cases and gotten people big money. He only did the cases he saw that had a case. He tells me often he had a case when he brought his own(first one) but he handled it wrong and therefore he lost it. The process is tedious and if you screw up one thing you will lose just on a technicality. So what you are saying is true to some degree, but when people are wrong they are wrong and should be prosecuted.

NLBwell said:
This happens to tens of thousands of people every year and has nothing to do with race. It has happened to me. It has happened to my next-door neighbor. You go on and find an even better spot.

In the OP, it seems that the administrator doesn't like the teacher and maybe didn't treat him fairly. 99% chance it had nothing to do with race. To prove racism, they have to show a pattern (or at least are supposed to). Two incidents over a year or two is meaningless. There may be much more evidence of racism than is stated here or the teacher may just be angry and willing to drag the school through the mud in order to get revenge and a few bucks. Either could be true; there really is no way to know from the outside - at least until and unless all the information is presented in court.
Click to expand...
 
Last edited:
tlm

tlm

G.O.A.T.
Caesar said:
Anyone who has ever had to fire someone will know how easy it is to be accused of impropriety. If you fire a woman, it's because you're sexist. If you fire an older person, it's because you're ageist. If you fire a minority, it's because you're racist.

Why? Because when someone gets fired it is 99 times out of 100 because they are not great employees. If they are not out-and-out liars then they often have difficulty acknowledging and taking responsibility for their failings. Blaming the employer is the natural (and normal) reaction.

As such I am skeptical of any sort of claim like this unless there is some sort of substantiation. I am sure plenty of people get fired by racist employers because they're black. But when the employer being accused is a school catering primarily to black students then I would like to see something more than the word of a disgruntled ex-employee.
Click to expand...



Exactly but in the politically correct liberal BS country we live in this is just the way it is.
 
li0scc0

li0scc0

Hall of Fame
Dutch-Guy said:
The Nevada prep school named after and founded by Andre Agassi has been sued by a former biology teacher who claims he was treated like crap and FIRED because he's black.

TMZ has obtained the lawsuit filed by James Holmes Jr. -- who claims he was hired to teach 9th and 10th grade biology at Andre Agassi College Prep Academy in 2005.

According to his suit, things went smoothly for the next 3 years ... until the school hired a new principal in 2008 ... who allegedly favored white teachers.

James claims the principal refused to let him travel to a science conference ... blaming it on budget restraints. But James claims he later discovered the school head DID have funds reserved for other teachers who wanted to attend conferences ... and they all happened to be white.

James also claims the principal denied his request for new lab materials due to budget restraints ... only to find out the lab materials were ordered for two white teachers instead.

According to the suit, James says he filed a complaint with the school ... but officials retaliated by firing his ass and replacing him with a substitute elementary school teacher who wasn't certified to teach science courses.

James is demanding at least $75k in damages. Andre is not personally named in the suit.

A rep for the Academy tells us, "We will aggressively defend the suit because the case is baseless and without any merit."


Sourc: TMZ
Click to expand...


Maybe those other teachers were...gasp...MORE QUALIFIED? Better teachers? But of course it HAS to be about race.
 
snoopy

snoopy

Professional
As the USA become more diverse and integrated, the idea of racism increasingly becomes nothing more than a means by which some prosper and yield power.

Unfortunately the race industry hurts poorer people the most.

If you are told from a young age that this country is racist and that racism is keeping you down, you will perceive racism everywhere and blame it for all of your problems.
 
TERRASTAR18

TERRASTAR18

Hall of Fame
snoopy said:
As the USA become more diverse and integrated, the idea of racism increasingly becomes nothing more than a means by which some prosper and yield power.

Unfortunately the race industry hurts poorer people the most.

If you are told from a young age that this country is racist and that racism is keeping you down, you will perceive racism everywhere and blame it for all of your problems.
Click to expand...

have you see any of the diversity you speak of? and have you seen the inequality that runs along the lines of that diversity?
ignorance in the past, turns to ignorance in the present, turns to ignorance in the future.
 
C

chatt_town

Hall of Fame
Check this out. Most of the people that you read about filing lawsuits are educated people.....meaning that someone told them to get an education so they could compete....not to be looking for a handout etc. So called "poorer" people aren't the ones filing these claims. I think there are false claims at times, but some have merit. We really don't know with this one until the facts come out. I'd be careful about trying to label this as someone trying to just get over. Lets see what happens as the facts come forth.

snoopy said:
As the USA become more diverse and integrated, the idea of racism increasingly becomes nothing more than a means by which some prosper and yield power.

Unfortunately the race industry hurts poorer people the most.

If you are told from a young age that this country is racist and that racism is keeping you down, you will perceive racism everywhere and blame it for all of your problems.
Click to expand...
 
Devilito

Devilito

Hall of Fame
Dutch-Guy said:
The Nevada prep school named after and founded by Andre Agassi has been sued by a former biology teacher who claims he was treated like crap and FIRED because he's black.
Click to expand...

JesseJacksonRaceCard.jpg
 
zagor

zagor

Bionic Poster
rommil said:
I think firing his booty might have been more appropriate way of putting it.



There's no way they are racist. I see a black kid on the bus in the Longines ad.
Click to expand...

LMAO! Rommil mate, you owe me a new keyboard. This will teach me not to drink while browsing TW.
 
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