Broward Teacher Behind ‘Racist’ Rant Retires Before Termination Vote

Perhaps taking a lesson from other embattled figures like Richard Nixon, who infamously resigned from the presidency before impeachment papers could be filed, a controversial Broward County high school history teacher told the board in November he’d be retiring — all before board members could vote on his recommended termination in December.

Everglades High School teacher Steven Babice enraged people across the nation after his “racist” rant, first reported by New Times, went viral and reached audiences in Atlanta and Los Angeles. During a heated classroom discussion about the shooting of MAGA influencer Charlie Kirk, Babice can be heard spouting racial stereotypes and generally using language that students and many across the internet found racist, according to the student who recorded the audio and spoke to New Times. (The student’s name was withheld to protect them from retaliation.)

According to the student, Babice became enflamed when a student dared to speak out against Kirk’s comments on race, which included publicly questioning the credentials of Black professionals based on their skin color.

“Why do Black people hate white people?” the teacher asks on the recording obtained by New Times. “Because cops are killing Blacks, is that what’s going on? Are more whites getting shot by cops than Blacks? Somebody say yes because that’s a fact. How come there are parades, fires, murders, and burning cities down all because George Floyd, a career criminal, died? But when a white girl on a train gets stabbed in the neck — just whispers. If that was a white guy killing a Black girl, the world would be upside down, correct? So who’s the racist?”

The student’s mother filed a complaint with the school, spurring an investigation that led school district staff to recommend termination. Administrators put Babice on the October board meeting for members to vote on whether to terminate him with cause, along with scores of other teachers’ names on the list for various punishments, as is customary with large school districts. For matters seemingly unrelated to Babice, school board members voted to delay all firings and potential teacher punishments until the December meeting, which was held on Tuesday.

But after the recommendation made it to the December agenda, Babice notified the school district of his intent to resign, effectively sidestepping his termination in the process. It is unclear how Babice’s termination would have affected his retirement benefits, or whether he will still receive those benefits. When asked, district officials referred New Times to the State Board of Education, which has not responded to a request for comment.

The student who spoke to New Times says she’s not sure who initiated the exchange, but that Babice became irate and began slamming his fists on his desk and kicking a closet door. On the recording, he can be heard telling students that he doesn’t want to hear anyone call someone racist without backing it up.

Kirk led Turning Point USA, a nonprofit organization that traveled nationwide to high schools and universities to advocate for conservative policies. Turning Point’s anti-woke messaging and grassroots mobilization of Gen Z and Millennials played an influential role in President Donald Trump’s second run for office. Kirk is perhaps most famous for viral videos of him verbally sparring with college students over gun rights, abortion, immigration, and other hot-button issues. His death inspired a social media firestorm, where many who made light of the situation lost their jobs.

Since his death, all kinds of Kirk quotes have resurfaced, including those where he suggested Black airline pilots are simply diversity hires and don’t deserve their positions, and that prominent Black women like Michelle Obama and Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson lack the brain-processing power to be taken seriously, according to reporting from the Guardian. “If I’m dealing with somebody in customer service who’s a moronic Black woman, I wonder, is she there because of her excellence or is she there because of affirmative action?” Kirk infamously asked on his podcast last year.

The student who spoke with New Times says that in comments that weren’t caught on tape, Babice stated that Black people should stop complaining because the U.S. has had a Black president and Everglades High School has a Black principal. She says Babice also claimed that Kirk had done more for Black people than people like Barack Obama.

She says Babice booted the defiant student from the class, then explained to the class that “that ignorant Black kid” doesn’t know what he’s talking about. He then dismissed the entire class, instructing them to go to the classroom next door. The next day, she says, Babice made the class watch a Kirk memorial video and cursed at students who weren’t paying attention.

The student’s mother, who also spoke to New Times on the condition of anonymity, says she was appalled to find Babice was able to keep his job after a 2019 incident, also reported by New Times. At that time, he made derogatory comments about women in a comment on a Facebook post from a former student who opined about laws restricting abortion rights.

“When an irresponsible whore learns that a baby’s life has as much value as hers then maybe she’d use her mouth instead of her polluted vagina. Ignorant,” Babice wrote.

According to previous New Times reporting, Babice worked at Charles W. Flanagan High School in Pembroke Pines before teaching at Everglades High. In a memo dated March 24, 1997, then-Flanagan High principal Sara B. Rogers warned Babice to stop making inappropriate comments in class. The memo noted that students had made allegations, but provided no further details. “This correspondence is to serve as a warning to you to refrain from engaging students in conversation that may be perceived as…having sexually suggestive connotation,” Rogers wrote. “This behavior is…unacceptable.”

Babice moved to Everglades High in 2004. Three years later, according to his personnel file, Crime Stoppers received an anonymous tip claiming Babice had been taking drugs and having sex with a student who’d graduated two years earlier. Broward Schools investigator Gary Rowe confronted Babice, who denied the claim. “At this time, there is no further information,” Rowe wrote in a memo. Then-principal Paul Fetscher said he would monitor Babice, and the case was closed. No evidence in the file pointed to any additional investigation. 

Babice’s salary was $64,473, and his retirement became effective on November 6, according to the district.