A journalist is seen taking an interview with a smartphone on 21 April, 2017. (Photo by Jaap Arriens/NurPhoto via Getty Images) A Missouri high school teacher who was videotaped repeatedly using a racial slur in class has resigned from the district, while the student who took the video finishes serving a school suspension.Mary Walton, a 15-year-old sophomore at Glendale High School in Springfield, will be allowed to return to school Wednesday after a three-day suspension for what the school district said was improper use of an electronic device.Walton’s suspension caused controversy, with supporters including the Radio Television Digital News Association saying she was exercising her free speech rights and documenting a disturbing incident that might have otherwise been ignored.Kate Wellborn, Walton’s mother, said in an interview Tuesday that she was "genuinely shocked" her daughter received the harshest possible punishment for recording the teacher during class last week.
She said her daughter’s video clearly showed the situation and context for what happened.RELATED: Puppy found shaved with swastikas, expletives drawn on skin"To punish someone in this situation who does the right thing, it’s absurd," Wellborn said.Walton told her mother and others that she started videotaping the teacher after he said the slur several times, and her video captures him saying it twice.
The teacher stopped when he saw she was recording.Walton sent the video to her mother, a friend and a student in the video to ask for advice on what to do.