Teacher Warned on Gay, Racist Slurs

A suburban Chicago school board Tuesday night warned, but did not fire, a high school teacher after he admitted to slurring gay black men during class.

Dave Burk, a veteran consumer education teacher at Geneva High School, allegedly made the comments in a lecture on October 5 about tax money and the National Endowment for the Arts.

"How would you feel about your tax dollars going to pay some black fag in New York to take pictures of other black fags?" Burk allegedly asked students.

Burk will have a letter of reprimand placed in his permanent file, according to the Daily Herald.

The teacher acknowledged the offense to students.

"Burk read a letter of apology to students in each of his classes Tuesday, saying he 'used a very poor example of words to make my point,'" according to the Daily Herald. "The message I conveyed was insensitive and hurtful," said the letter. "This is not what I had intended."

Gay senior Jordan Hunter, who reported Burk to school administrators, has been assigned a different teacher. School district 304 officials called Burk's behavior "unacceptable" and said he could be fired if another incident occurs.