Controversies About The Word "niggardly" - Mendocino County, CA Incident

Mendocino County, CA Incident

Dennis Boaz, a history teacher, sued the administrators of the Mendocino County Office of Education for defamation. Mr. Boaz, who was bargaining for Ukiah schoolteachers, wrote a letter saying that the "tenor of the negotiation tactics of the district office has become increasingly negative and niggardly." The response was a memo from one defendant of the lawsuit that implied that Boaz was racist, and a letter cosigned by the other defendant and nine other individuals in the Mendocino County school system stating that Boaz's comments were "racially charged and show a complete lack of respect and integrity toward Dr. Nash, Ukiah Unified District Superintendent," who is black.