Niles West teacher dismissed for inappropriate comment was suspended in 2021 for similar offense

The Niles Township High School District 219 dismissed an English teacher in June for making “inappropriate and unprofessional” comments to a student, documents The Record obtained from a public-records request show. 

The D219 Board of Education voted unanimously on June 9 to dismiss Nathan Gray, a Niles West High School teacher who reportedly taught in the district for more than 25 years.  

A recommendation for dismissal notice the district addressed to Gray on June 5 says he was talking to a student about the topic of their persuasive essay assignment on May 11 when he “told the student that their topic was a ‘middle-school topic’ and, instead, encouraged the student, who is Black/African American, to change their topic to ‘the N-word.’”

The student emailed Gray and other D219 personnel on May 11 to bring the encounter to their attention, and then Gray admitted in an interview with district staff that he “could have used better judgement,” according to the notice written by Ray Chung, D219’s director of human resources.

Chung also wrote that Gray’ defended his actions, saying, “You also defended your statements as demonstrating high standards and appropriate relationship because you were ‘trying to point out problems in our world.'” 

The encounter also was not the first time the district disciplined Gray for his conduct.

D219 placed Gray on an indefinite suspension in September 2021 during a previous investigation into “potential misconduct,” an internal email shows. 

A June 9, 2026 district letter to Gray states he violated a notice to remedy he received in December 2021 after the district determined he had “made inappropriate jokes regarding Black/African Americans and made inappropriate comments toward students regarding their ethnicity.”

According to internal documents, Gray said his conduct in 2021 included “reading a historical Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. quote aloud from a school approved book.”

Further details of the 2021 conduct are unclear. Documents related to the suspension that were provided to The Record were heavily redacted.

Chung wrote in the June 9 letter, “Your conduct violates Board Policy 7:10 because you have again denied opportunities to students based on their race or color,” Chung wrote. “You continue to exhibit clear bias against Black students, to the detriment of students and their educational access.” 

The Record’s attempts to contact Gray were unsuccessful.

Before the D219 board of education voted in June to dismiss Gray, he appeared visibly emotional in the meeting’s audience as multiple district teachers and current and former students expressed support of his character and “shock” that he was set to be fired.

“Terminating him over a misunderstanding would not only be unfair, it would send a very dangerous message to teachers that pushing your students is a risk rather than a virtue,” said Ethan Machaya, a D219 student. “I’m asking you to see the difference between guidance and coercion.”

‘A Complete Lack of Awareness’

According to district records, a Niles West High School student emailed Gray, the D219 board, Niles West’s Principal Steve Parnther and a D219 English teacher on the evening of May 11.

In answering The Record’s Freedom of Information Act request, D219 redacted the content of the student’s email. 

But in subsequent emails, Parnther thanked the student for “bringing this matter to my attention,” and Deputy Superintendent Roszena Haskins told Board President Amber Wood that the student’s message warranted “immediate and thorough fact-finding.”

“I will report back on how these seriously disturbing allegations involving a student feeling singled out, intimidated, and racially targeted in the classroom are being investigated,” Haskins wrote, and indicated social-emotional supports would be extended to the student.

D219 staff then spoke with the student and their parents multiple times, district emails indicate. Gray participated in a June 1 “due process meeting” and shared documents, including a response and a timeline with D219 staff. 

In those written responses, Gray reportedly argued there was “no evidence of sustained education disruption attributable to (his) conduct.”

The letter states Gray’s May 11 comment violated three board policies — concerning employee ethics, equal educational opportunities and harassment of students — and in doing so caused the student “clear psychological harm.”

“We further find that your behavior on May 11, 2026 substantially undermines a safe and healthy learning environment for our students. Your statements were offensive and marginalizing to the student, as well as to the student’s family,” Chung wrote.

The Notice to Remedy that Gray received in 2021 required him to “refrain from making inappropriate racial comments/remarks” because he had made an “inappropriate comment… regarding race, specifically toward Black students,” district documents show. 

In Gray’s response to his 2021 conduct, which he described as reading a MLK Jr. quote aloud, Chung wrote that this “mischaracterization displays a complete lack of awareness of the severity of your prior conduct.”

During the recent due process hearing, Gray indicated he did not believe his May 11 comments violated the 2021 warning because the comments occurred in homeroom instead of class, documents say.

‘A Special Appeal’

Addressing the board of education on June 9, at least five teachers and eight current and former students described Gray as a passionate and hardworking educator beloved by students.  

Michele Hettinger, a former English teacher at Niles West, recalled seeing Gray read quotes aloud from one of his class books while leading a weightlifting competition with students last spring. 

“He has a special appeal with many of our students because he is mentally and physically tough and because he works hard to relate to them,” Hettinger said, adding that she’s seen him stay after school for long periods as students waited to work one-on-one with him.

Josh Kim, another student at Niles West, said Gray always treated him with “kindness and love” and Gray went out of his way to say hello in the hallway. 

“As an Asian American myself and a son of an immigrant, I never felt any discrimination or unfair treatment from Mr. Gray,” Kim said. 

Hettinger, who reportedly taught an advanced English course to which Gray’s students advanced, said she was grateful Gray challenged students to write about “controversial topics” because showing “nuance” is something required on advanced placement tests.

Hettinger questioned why D219 reportedly has encouraged teachers to take professional development courses about topics like diversity if educators “cannot discuss and assign controversial topics.” 

Such courses, she said, review protocols for classroom discussions, like assuming good intentions, in order to prevent dialogues from “derailing into defensive, accusatory conflicts.”

“Defensive, accusatory conflicts, that is what appears to be happening here,” she said. “And what D219 needs to do is not fire a beloved 30-year veteran who’s worked hard to improve himself and challenge his students, but instead hire an equity coach who can work specifically with any teacher who wants to be able to use their antiracist training in the classroom, like we’ve been encouraged to.

“Otherwise every single one of your teachers is going to be afraid to do what we’ve been asked to do and everyone suffers from mediocrity.”

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