A third-grade teacher in New Jersey has been suspended for having her students send get-well letters to Mumia Abu-Jamal, an inmate convicted of killing a Philadelphia police officer.
Marylin Zuniga, a third-grade teacher at Forest Street School in Orange, New Jersey, has been suspended without pay until an investigation by Orange School Superintendent Ronald Lee is complete.
Administrators “vehemently deny” having an knowledge of the assignment, The Associated Press reported Friday. Initial inquiries found that neither parents nor school officials were consulted prior to the assignment.
Abu-Jamal, 60, who serving a life sentence for the 1981 murder of Officer Daniel Faulkner, was recently hospitalized with a diabetes-related illness.
Advocates for Abu-Jamal say he was falsely convicted because of the justice system is inherently racist.
Richard Costello, political coordinator for the Philadelphia Fraternal Order of Police, told Fox News Thursday that it was “outrageous” for a teacher to involve young children in such a politically divisive assignment.
SEE ALSO: Mumia Abu-Jamal receives get-well cards from third-grade class
• Douglas Ernst can be reached at dernst@washingtontimes.com.
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