An Alabama high school math teacher who used a hypothetical presidential assassination to illustrate a geometry concept has been put on paid leave, the Birmingham News reports.
The superintendent of Jefferson County schools, Phil Hammonds, who originally said the unnamed teacher would only be punished with a long talk, now says the teacher could be fired.
The teacher was interviewed by the Secret Service and deemed not a threat.
From the Birmingham News:
Hammonds said the district has suffered great embarrassment by the teacher’s “lack of judgment.”
“As a district, we are embarrassed by his actions and what he said,” Hammonds said. “There is nothing that can be said to rationalize what was said. We take this very seriously. There is no place in our society for a person to make these comments.”
Hammonds apparently changed his mind after his office was flooded with calls about the story.
Requests for comment have been directed to the district’s lawyer, who has not returned phone calls.