PLZZZ HELP The Scholarship Jacket: Reread lines 47-48. During the teachers' argument, one of the teachers says "Martha is Mexican." What could he mean by this?

Line 47- " The pounding in my ears drowned out the rest of the words, only a word here and there filtered through. “. . . Martha is Mexican . . . resign
. . . won’t do it . . . . ”

Line 48- "Mr. Schmidt came rushing out and luckily for me went down the opposite way toward the auditorium, so he didn’t see me."