A Missouri middle school teacher is no longer employed by Springfield Public Schools after a video surfaced showing her berating a male student as a “straight jerk,” “butthead,” and “weasel,” apparently over his LBGTQ objection, the Springfield News-Leader reported.
Cellphone video of the May 27 incident begins with the unnamed teacher angrily addressing the student, apparently, after he interpreted the unicorn cupcakes she brought to the Pershing Middle School classroom for the last day of class as pro-LBGTQ, the paper said.
Indeed, the LGBTQ community has adopted the mythical animal as a symbol of sorts in recent years.
The clip begins with the teacher saying, “Just ’cause I support another thing doesn’t mean I don’t support straight people, too. Just ’cause I’m Mexican doesn’t mean I don’t also support black people or Irish people or ignorant people.”
As the teacher utters “ignorant people,” she gestures toward the male student in question, who responds that he believed he was being “ignored” by the teacher.
“Would you like a special unicorn cupcake for being straight, jerk?” the teacher yells at the student, who yells back, “Yes!”
On her walk back to the front of the classroom, the teacher exclaims, “What a dip!”
The student is heard asking the teacher what she said, and she replies, “A dip! Like a dipstick, a butthead, a weasel, a pain in my butt!”
Watch:
The paper said the video apparently was recorded by a student sitting in the middle of the classroom, and the teacher did not appear to know she was being recorded.
Stephen Hall, the district’s chief communications officer, told the News-Leader a Pershing parent informed the district about the incident and provided the video within 24 hours of the incident taking place — and that an investigation began “immediately.”
“The video includes comments that do not meet the professional standards for educators,” Hall told the paper. “They are inappropriate and inexcusable. As a result of the district’s internal investigation, SPS has taken appropriate disciplinary actions. While details of personnel matters must remain confidential, our response has followed the guidelines outlined by our board policy and reflects the district’s zero-tolerance for this type of conduct.”
Hall added to the News-Leader after gaining permission from the teacher that “the employee will not be returning to SPS.”
This is an excerpt from TheBlaze.
