School director is removed for reading article about elections on local radio

Flávio Luíz Gabardo, director of a school in the city of Jacutinga (RS), was removed from his duties for having read and commented on an excerpt from an article about the results of the elections on a local radio station. The Workers’ Party (PT) denounced the teacher claiming that he would have expressed racist ideas. He has been out of office since January 4 of this year.

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In one of the participations in a local radio program, he read a part of a text published by West Magazine, by JR Guzzo, entitled “À Sombra da Corrupção sem Limites”, which analyzes the result of the first round of elections held in 2022. and Northeast. The columnist also explains that former president Jair Bolsonaro attracted more voters in the South and Southeast.

“The Brazil of progress, between Mato Grosso and Rio Grande do Sul, including São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, preferred Bolsonaro. The Brazil of slave quarters, between Bahia and Maranhão, stayed with Lula. Minas was divided and the North has no enough votes to make a difference. But the fact is that the majority is on the side of backwardness,” wrote Guzzo.

After that, the local Workers’ Party (PT) denounced the teacher to the Secretary of Education of Rio Grande do Sul claiming that he was expressing racist ideas when reading the article. The body accepted the PT’s opinion and dismissed the director. Gabardo has been director of the Érico Veríssimo State School of Basic Education for 20 years.

“I can’t go to school, they banned me from going to school. I have a son who studies there and I can’t go”, said Gabardo. “Behind this there is a political bias, because I am on the right (…). I didn’t talk about this article in class, I talked about it on the radio. I didn’t receive a salary, I was invited”, said the professor. “If I committed a crime by reading the article, then everyone who read the article committed a crime. They want to harm me.”

The teacher’s son and townspeople organized a petition against the racism complaint last week. The motion in support of the school director had more than 1,400 signatures, and the city of Jacutinga (RS) has 3,600 inhabitants. He reported that this petition will be delivered with other documents in his defense. “That was on a Saturday and Sunday. If we waited 15 days, there would be more than 2,000 people, half the city’s population (…) We went to the town’s central square and many people wanted to sign”, said the professor’s son, Lucas Gabardo.

The Secretary of Education of Rio Grande do Sul declined to comment on the complaint and only informed that there is a Disciplinary Administrative Proceeding (PAD) that is being processed by the State Attorney General’s Office (PGE). “The teacher was removed from his activities until the proper investigation of the facts occurs”, in a note.

The report contacted the PT in Rio Grande do Sul, but, so far, has not received a response.