The St. Paul teacher who was put on leave after posting Facebook comments that some people described as racist returned to work by school-year's end, but not in the same position.
Theo Olson said that he was "subbing around the district" after having lost his job as a special-education teacher at Como Park Senior High.
"I don't know yet where I'll be assigned next fall, but I am still employed, and my job performance has not been questioned," he said in a written statement this week.
While Olson said that he has been disciplined -- losing pay and some summer benefits contributions, as a result -- the district said Thursday that action against him was pending.
The reasons behind disciplinary moves are not public until they are final, under the state's data practices act, and Olson did not offer any details of his own in the three-paragraph statement.
In March, Black Lives Matter St. Paul threatened to shut down Como Park High if the district did not fire Olson over posts it claimed portrayed students as drug dealers and gang bangers. The group also unearthed and publicized blog posts that Olson wrote involving interactions between a fictional teacher, "Mr. O'Shea," and special-education students who appeared to show little interest in their school work.
At the time, his wife, Karen Nelson Olson, said the blog, "Hot-spvrr," was an effort to show "what it's really like" to be an inner-city special-education teacher. The depictions of classroom life were a "mash-up" of experiences and characters, with genders changed and events altered, she added.
In his statement, Theo Olson made no mention of the frustrations expressed in his writings, choosing instead to highlight what he described as the good work of St. Paul's special-education teachers.
"We don't walk on water, but we do incredible things with kids," he said.
Olson was one of two district staff members to face scrutiny over Facebook posts this year.
Brian White Jr., a special projects coordinator at John A. Johnson Elementary School, also was placed on paid leave in March after drawing criticism over posts about the "black family structure," feminism and what he described as the "effeminization" of black men.
White, who is black, resigned in early May.
In a statement, the district said: "There was a complaint against Brian White and it was investigated ... There was no disciplinary action."
