Teacher at Jewish school resigns over racial remarks on Twitter

SCOTTSDALE, AZ (KTRK) -- An Arizona teacher of 12 years resigned after comments she made on Twitter involving immigration.

Former Pardes Jewish Day teacher Bonnie Verne submitted her resignation Monday night after tweets surfaced indicating that illegal immigrants should be killed.

In one tweet she wrote, "Why deport them - just kill them." She responded to another Twitter user with "Ha ha ha you must want to be raped by a Muslim."

According to the Washington Jewish Week, Verne was responding to a tweet with a man holding a sign that read, "Deport illegal aliens."

"I am writing to inform you that Mrs. Bonnie Verne has resigned her position as a third grade teacher at our school. Bonnie deeply regrets having in recent days made comments using her personal social media account that were inappropriate, offensive, and unbefitting of a Pardes teacher," the school wrote in a statement. "She believes, and the school concurs, that the best course of action, both for her and Pardes, is for her to resign immediately."

Verne has since deleted her Twitter account.

Read the full statement from the Pardes Jewish Day School below:

Dear Members of the Pardes Community,

I am writing to inform you that Mrs. Bonnie Verne has resigned her position as a third grade teacher at our school. Bonnie deeply regrets having in recent days made comments using her personal social media account that were inappropriate, offensive, and unbefitting of a Pardes teacher. She believes, and the school concurs, that the best course of action, both for her and Pardes, is for her to resign immediately.

The leadership at our school deeply respects the rights of all citizens including those associated with the school to express their views, regardless of their political perspectives. However, with that right comes individual responsibility not to make hateful comments, which have no place in our school. To the contrary, words that demean and diminish other human beings run counter to the values this school holds dear including kavod, the respectful communication and treatment of all people.

To that end, the school maintains policies that make it clear that the personal remarks of faculty members must never, in any way, bring disrepute to the school or impinge on classroom activity. Those policies have been and will continue to be enforced diligently.

Mrs. Verne was a veteran teacher with twelve years of exemplary service and was appreciated by students and parents alike. We are certain that her political views never, in any way, found their way into her classroom.

Having identified a superb replacement teacher, we are confident that our standards of excellence will be maintained in the 3rd grade and throughout the school.

While I regret to having to bring this news to our Pardes community, I am as committed as ever to a promising future for our school. Please contact me if you have further questions.