The Latest: School board president: overturn guard’s firing

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The Latest on a black Wisconsin security guard who was fired for repeating a racial slur while telling a student not to use it (all times local):

5:15 p.m.

The president of a Wisconsin school board is recommending the school superintendent overturn the firing of a black security guard who was fired for repeating a racial slur while telling a student not to use it.

Madison School Board President Gloria Reyes said Monday that she has asked the superintendent to review the use of racial slurs in school and to rescind the termination of Marlon Anderson.

Reyes says after experiencing a series of racial slurs last school year, the district had to take a stand to protect students. But she says: “It is important that we do not harm those that we are trying to protect.”

Anderson said he was responding to a call Oct. 9 about a disruptive student when the student, who is black, called him obscenities, including the N-word. Anderson told the student not to call him that, repeating the slur.

The school district has said it has a zero-tolerance policy on employees using racial slurs. A district spokeswoman did not immediately return messages for comment.

___

9 a.m.

A black Wisconsin security guard who was fired for repeating a racial slur while telling a student not to use it says he’s not angry because he’s gotten “a busload of love” from supporters.

Marlon Anderson told WMTV-TV on Sunday that he hasn’t had time to be upset because of support he’s gotten. He says people have stopped him on the street to hug him. Students from Madison West High School also staged a walkout Friday to support him.

Anderson says he was responding to a call Oct. 9 about a disruptive student when the student, who is black, called him obscenities, including the N-word. Anderson told the student not to call him that, repeating the slur.

The school fired Anderson on Wednesday, but the Boys & Girls Club of Dane County hired him and he’s starting Monday.