A Florida teacher was fired this week after a student in her class recorded her wrapping a cord around a black baby doll’s neck and hanging it from a television monitor.
Karen Whitmire Savage, a 63-year-old art teacher at Barrington Middle School in Hillsborough County, confiscated the doll from one of her students who she said wasn’t paying enough attention, according to a 14-year-old boy who took the video.
Noah, the boy, decided to record the Monday incident as it unfolded so there would be proof of what happened, he told WTSP-TV in an interview.
On Tuesday, Hillsborough County Schools Superintendent Van Ayres condemned what happened and said Savage had been removed from campus pending the outcome of an investigation.
By Wednesday, the school district announced that Savage had been fired and that her conduct had been reported to the Florida Department of Education’s Office of Professional Practice Services.
‘We want to reiterate that we do not tolerate conduct of this nature. We took immediate action and responded swiftly to ensure the situation was handled appropriately,’ said a spokesperson for the school district, adding that counselors will be made available to students affected by the incident.
Noah said most of his peers nervously laughed at first but once Savage actually hung the doll, the classroom went silent.
‘After she took the doll…she took the charger cord and wrapped it around the baby’s neck, and tied it,’ he said. ‘Everybody started telling her it was wrong and racist to do that. And then she said it was just a joke, and then she took down the doll.’
On Monday, Karen Whitmire Savage hung this black baby doll from a TV monitor in her classroom at Florida’s Barrington Middle School while her students watched in disbelief. By Wednesday, she had been fired by the Hillsborough County School District
A 14-year-old student in her class named Noah recorded the video of the incident and reported Savage to school officials
Savage, an art teacher, said she had hung the doll as a joke when students said what she did was racist, according to Noah
The video Noah recorded was first sent to his family group chat. His mother, Nina Williams, later posted the video to Instagram, where it now has nearly 450,000 likes.
‘Her excuse to our kids was that she did it “to get their attention,”‘ Williams wrote. ‘This is NOT a classroom management tool. This is straight up hate and trauma being weaponized in front of our children in a place where they are supposed to be safe.’
After class ended, Noah said he went down to the student affairs office to report what Savage had done, only for her to allegedly follow him there and speak over him when he tried to explain what happened.
‘It was really disturbing,’ he said. ‘I hope that she’s not allowed to teach again. Because she shouldn’t be allowed to teach if she does things like that.’
In her interview with WTSP-TV, Williams said the image of a black doll being hung evoked images of racial violence and lynchings, which were common in the Jim Crow South throughout the late 1800s and early 1900s.
Noah’s mother, Nina Williams, posted the video to Instagram. It has subsequently gone viral, now sitting at nearly 450,000 likes. Williams was pleased with the school’s swift decision to fire Savage, but she is still considering legal action against the school district
‘That is not something that I expected my children in 2026 to ever have to deal with seeing – a lynching, whether it was real or fake,’ she said. ‘This will be with my son for the rest of his life.’
Williams said that civil rights attorneys have contacted her about this incident, adding that she is considering taking legal action against the Hillsborough County School District.
She did praise the school district for swiftly removing Savage from campus and firing her the next day.
‘I do appreciate that. And I am praying that she never gets to return to another school in any county in any state,’ she said.
