Dua, teacher active with students of color, missing suddenly from role at high school
Kevin Dua speaks at a December meeting of the School Committee, joined by two members of the Black Student Union.
Cambridge Rindge and Latin School history teacher Kevin Dua is no longer listed in an online staff directory, and it is unclear if he remains an employee at the high school.
Asked on Wednesday if Dua was still teaching for the district, a spokeswoman said it couldn’t be confirmed. “I will get back to you as soon as I have accurate information and a response” from administrators, said Rosalie F. Rippey, the district communications manager.
A member of the Black Student Union, which Dua has been advising since he came to the district and revived it in 2017, also said – without specifics – that it would be difficult for members to comment due to the “many things” the club is facing. But teachers at CRLS were reportedly being told by students that Dua is on administrative leave, while getting no information from Cambridge Public Schools administrators.
Even a School Committee member reached for comment didn’t have information to pass on.
It has been issues of race keeping Dua in the news for the past couple of years. He has helped students call for an end to racist offenses at the high school through YouTube videos and testimony to the School Committee; more recently he led a classroom panel discussion at which committee member Emily Dexter used a racial term in an academic context, leading to her resignation after a year of furor.
Criminal complaint
A criminal complaint of a wiretap violation was lodged against Dua in mid-December, alleging that he used a phone to secretly record a conversation with a staff member Oct. 24. He played it for a school dean Oct. 31 and was told it is illegal in Massachusetts to record a conversation without all participants’ knowledge, according to the file at Cambridge District Court in Medford. The dean told vice principal Robert Tynes and principal Damon Smith, who met with Dua on Nov. 6. Dua said he had not been aware that the recording was illegal, and that he had already deleted it.
Smith later told the staff member that Dua had recorded their conversation, and in late November, the staff member reported the incident to Cambridge police, who opened an investigation. Dua has retained Attorney Kareem Morgan to represent him. Dua will be arraigned Feb. 13 at the court.
It is a crime in Massachusetts to record a private conversation without the participants’ permission, and it carries a possible penalty of up to five years in a state prison, up to 2.5 years in jail, or a maximum fine of $10,000 – or a combination of these punishments.
Civil remedies can also be pursued, including actual damages, punitive damages and attorneys’ fees.
Drawn to the district
Dua, the Massachusetts 2017 History Teacher of the Year while in the Somerville school district, said that year that he was drawn to Cambridge in part because he was moved by the students’ activism and their yearning to see changes in the school and community. Dua said he could see a role for himself at the school, especially in the education of students of color. More recently he said in testimony before the committee that he was “recruited” to come teach in Cambridge.
In July 2018, students said that months of effort to raise awareness had resulted in little but stress and fatigue, and that they were concerned Dua was facing pressure to look elsewhere for a job. Smith said Dua’s job was safe.
There was around four hours of public commentary at the December committee meeting about the “N-word” incident, and Dua made a statement midway thanking BSU members, students, teachers and community for their support, and attesting to the toll the situation has taken on his health. Dua said that while he is not resigning, he is unsure of his future in Cambridge or in teaching. “This entire process has broken me,” Dua said. “I can’t retain my mentality anymore, it is done.”
Students came quickly to his defense, speaking emotionally and saying they would do anything for the CRLS teacher they felt always had their back.
Reham Zeroual, a BSU co-president, called Dua “the one black teacher we’d all literally die for.”
From CambDay archives:
May 2016, “Several Cambridge Rindge and Latin School teachers, with backup from students, have appealed to the School Committee to improve hiring and retention of teachers of color…”
July 2017, “Teachers of color departing Cambridge, citing hostile workplace, failed intentions…”
July 2018, “After year of anti-racism activism at CRLS, students feel defeated by official response…”
Jan. 2020, “Cambridge Rindge and Latin School history [CRLS honors level; Massachusetts 2017 History Teacher of the Year] Kevin Dua [recruited for CRLS 2017-18] is no longer listed in an online staff directory, and it is unclear if he remains an employee at the high school…teachers at CRLS were reportedly being told by students that Dua is on administrative leave, while getting no information from Cambridge Public Schools administrators. Even a School Committee member reached for comment didn’t have information to pass on.”
Any other CPS parent seeing unaddressed, HUGE dysfunctionality here in SC & with our $6-figure CPS administrators?
Newly elected 2020-2021 5 SC members–Ayesha Wilson, Rachel Weinstein, José Luis Rojas Villareal, David Weinstein (no relation to R. W.), SC Chair/Mayor Sumbul Siddiqui–it’s time for you to step up and address PDQ festering CPS issues of • ongoing SC dysfunctionality, • decades-long K-12 lack of hiring/retention of teachers of color, • workplace climate [“Teachers of color describe “microaggressions” in the classroom and hallways and in staff meetings, as well as administrative resistance and punishment for questioning the quality of district efforts – with the result that they are tiring of the struggle and leaving.” CambDay, July 2017].
–parent of 2 K-12 CPS grads of color
Thanks Anita. Still, sad that Emily isn’t with the team anymore and now Mr Dua is gone.
Couldn’t this have been solved in a more civil way? It’s even sadder now…Talk to any student, teacher or parent everyone is just left disenfranchised.
This teacher is about to be arraigned for a crime (recording someone without his/her permission). I think we can’t blame the district for this one.
The bigger issue aside of race and systemic systems in the high school and elsewhere, which I agree are alarming, I can’t help but think that Mr Dua being arraigned for a crime is also troubling. The fact that he was recording a conversation perhaps to use as ammunition against said party, makes me wonder if Emily had also been set up. In her ignorance, Emily was lead down the path.
Instead of discussing the goal of his forum in an academic setting, he didn’t seem to defend his stance or that of his guest or even taking it a step further– used this as an example of miscommunication, anger under the surface, bigger issues in a meaningful discussion. He, his impressionable students and the school committee member who “took it personally” fanned this situation instead of getting it under control. Why was the teacher recording a conversation? for what purpose and to what end? So Emily gets forced out. A sad thing. And Bowman, who seems to be getting groomed to become a city councilor, gets thanks from the new mayor.
The bigger question is, why would a highly respected teacher feel so unsafe that he felt it necessary to record a conversation with a staff member? There must have been history there, and said staff member could perhaps clarify this? Why do people of color at times resort to taping/ recording encounters with police? Self protection. II suspect that was what Mr. Dua did. The CRLS administration need to provide answers and address its hostile school climate. Losing a teacher of Mr. Dua’s caliber and integrity, one of the few male teachers of color, is outrageous.
Actually now with Dua out for a while, CRLS is now a happier place according to students and staff. Pete is right. Dua set up Emily Dexter, the staff member he recorded secretly and many others. It is always sad to lose a high quality teacher of color but if said teacher is making his students and the whole school miserable, who cares what color he is? Students come first. Dua’s appearances at SC meetings have been circuses because no one would dare speak against him and he and some students would get away without following the rules of SC deliberations. The SC or district or whoever, ultimately Cambridge tax payers, paid all that money to hire a law firm to look into the Dexter incident. But when the report found Dua at fault, everyone was critical of said report and accused the lawyers of being racists and rushed to reject the report and to punish Dexter instead of Dua. The district is better off without him and the students are better off without him. All reports from CRLS indicate the anger is down. Social justice is very important but it is a community effort, not a crusade of one self interested individual.
Is there any update to this situation? I believe Mr. Dua remains suspended from CRLS. When and what resolution is expected?