Today in "Jesus Christ! Will efficious bureucrats please stop being so fucking stupid!?" - LA School District Wants to Destroy the World’s Greatest Teacher Over Harmless Joke

Why was Rafe Esquith—a celebrated Los Angeles teacherwith numerous achievements—suspended from class and forced to cancel his annual Shakespeare production? I previously reported that his alleged infraction was reading a colorful passage from Mark Twain, but according to new details in this Washington Post story, it’s actually a harmless, wholly inoffensive joke that got him in trouble.

Esquith teaches at Hobart Boulevard elementary in LA. Most of his students are low-income Korean and Hispanic kids. His numerous extracurricular activities—including field trips and Shakespeare productions—are largely funded through private donations from benefactors attracted to his excellent work. While reading a passage from Huckleberry Finn in which “the king came prancing out on all fours, naked,” Esquith remarked that if he couldn’t raise additional funds for his annual production, he supposed “the class would have to similarly perform naked.”...