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Teacher resigns over heated racial remarks on Twitter

Posted at 8:40 PM, Feb 21, 2017
and last updated 2017-02-22 07:55:46-05

A Scottsdale (Ariz.) teacher has resigned after tweeting out heated racial remarks on her personal Twitter account.

Bonnie Verne, a 12-year teacher at Pardes Jewish Day School, submitted her resignation on Monday night.

The decision came after several of Verne's tweets surfaced over illegal immigration. In the posts, Verne says, "Why deport them -- just kill them", and responded to another user with "Ha ha ha you must want to be raped by a Muslim." 

Gerald Reyes, Verne's fiance, defended her actions, saying she was in a contentious debate over articles she had read, and the comments were taken out of context.

"She was making comments on articles she would read about children getting raped by immigrants," Reyes explained. "A 14-year-old and an 11-year-old were raped, and the guy had been deported four times, and she goes, 'why deport them, they should be shot.'"

Jill Kessler, head of the Pardes Jewish Day School, said the school respects free speech and differing political interests, but cannot condone the remarks Verne made on Twitter.

"They were hateful, I'm not comfortable repeating them, but they were hateful," Kessler said of Verne's Twitter comments. "We have strong values as a Jewish day school, and we live and model these values for our students."

Reyes told Phoenix-based KNXV Verne ended up becoming a victim of internet trolls and her own passion.

"They threatened her and they're going to ruin her, and she'll never work in this town again."