Should black teachers be paid more for 'extra burden' of being black? CT school board member thinks so

A Democratic school board chair is facing fierce backlash after a video emerged of her arguing that black and brown teachers should receive financial incentives because being a minority is “an extra burden.”

LaToya Yagaloff, vice chair of the West Hartford Board of Education in Connecticut, made the remarks during a public meeting. “Are there financial incentives for black and brown people to work here?” she asked, wearing cat ears. “It’s an extra burden, quite frankly, to be a black and brown teacher and administrator in the district, so I think we need to start thinking about that financially if we’re not already... we got money,” she then said.

Yagaloff is a vocal member of the Democrat party, and was appointed to the West Hartford board in 2023 before subsequently being elected to a full term. She currently serves as its vice chair. Her official biography describes her as an “equity leader” and “community advocate” with a background in restorative justice and DEI education. Her recent comments are not the first time Yagaloff has found herself at the center of controversy over race. 

Earlier this summer, she sparked outrage with a social-media post attacking celebrations of America's 250th anniversary, saying that because slavery remained legal after America's independence in 1776, celebrating the country's founding was comparable to celebrating The Holocaust.

“Would you celebrate the historic beginning of the Holocaust or other genocides and atrocities?” she asked. She wrote that while America's 250th anniversary “may feel like a celebration to you,” to her it was “like celebrating a nightmare that built the country.” Yagaloff also argued that slavery was “the legal foundation” of the American colonies and linked the country's founding to what she described as the creation of conditions for “white privilege.” 

After backlash at the time, Yagaloff doubled down, and said in another post that she stands by the "heart of [her] message." She then claimed to be a victim, saying she was " singled out publicly" and "received a wave of racist and misogynistic harassment, including messages calling me the N-word and other degrading slurs."