Teacher put on leave for telling students Mike Pence should be ‘shot in the head’

Make sure to let us know what you think... we now have comments turned ON below the article!

A high school teacher in North Carolina has been placed on leave following reports that the educator suggested that harm should come to Vice President Mike Pence while he was in the state campaigning for Republicans ahead of the recent special congressional elections.

Fox affiliate WJZY in Charlotte reported that the unnamed teacher at Cuthbertson High School is alleged to have told students that Pence should be “shot in the head” while visiting North Carolina to campaign on behalf of Dan Bishop, who won the special election for the state’s Ninth Congressional District.

Local authorities were alerted, and according to the Union County Sheriff’s Office, the information was then passed along to the U.S. Secret Service for further investigation.

Inappropriate and “out of bounds”

Firas Obeid, a parent with two students enrolled at Cuthbertson, told WJZY that while he wasn’t a supporter of the vice president, he nonetheless believed it was inappropriate for anyone, much less a teacher in front of students, to speak openly about harming the vice president.

“This is the Vice President of the United States. He’s an elected official,” Obeid said. “Affiliation to a specific party does not entitle us to make a statement like that to anyone.”

That view was shared by the chair of the Union County GOP, Allison Powers, who wouldn’t go as far as to say that the teacher should be fired, but did express a belief that the school board needed to take some sort of action to address the situation.

“You should not be bringing in those type of viewpoints to your job,” Powers said. “To just wish that kind of violence on anybody is just way out of bounds.”

Placed on administrative leave

A request for comment with school board chair Melissa Merrell went unanswered, but district representative Gary Sides wrote on Facebook, “I can assure you it will be taken seriously.”

ABC affiliate WSOC-TV reported that the teacher has since been placed on administrative leave while an investigation into the alleged threat against the vice president is conducted.

“Union County Public Schools is taking the alleged inappropriate comments made by a Cuthbertson High School teacher very seriously,” the district said in a statement. “Upon learning about the alleged comments, the teacher was immediately placed on administrative leave last week and there is an ongoing investigation into this matter.”

“The Secret Service is aware of the reported comments made by the teacher. In addition, this is a personnel matter and information related to the investigation is protected by law,” the district added.

Whether the teacher who allegedly made the comments was serious or not, it is never acceptable to make assassination threats — especially in front of impressionable students — and, hopefully, assuming first that the Secret Service determines no criminal justice action is necessary, the district holds the teacher accountable for the innapropriate remarks.

747 Responses

  1. After looking over a handful of the blog posts on your web site, I seriously like your way of writing a blog. I book marked it to my bookmark webpage list and will be checking back in the near future. Please check out my web site as well and let me know what you think.

  2. You have made some decent points there. I looked on the internet to learn more about the issue and found most individuals will go along with your views on this web site.

  3. Good day! This is my first visit to your blog! We are a group of volunteers and starting a new initiative in a community in the same niche. Your blog provided us valuable information to work on. You have done a extraordinary job!

  4. My spouse and I stumbled over here from a different web address and thought I might check things out. I like what I see so now i am following you. Look forward to finding out about your web page yet again.

  5. This design is incredible! You most certainly know how to keep a reader amused. Between your wit and your videos, I was almost moved to start my own blog (well, almost…HaHa!) Great job. I really loved what you had to say, and more than that, how you presented it. Too cool!

  6. An outstanding share! I have just forwarded this onto a co-worker who has been conducting a little research on this. And he in fact bought me dinner because I discovered it for him… lol. So allow me to reword this…. Thanks for the meal!! But yeah, thanks for spending time to discuss this subject here on your site.

  7. We stumbled over here from a different web page and thought I might as well check things out. I like what I see so now i’m following you. Look forward to looking into your web page for a second time.

  8. My spouse and i felt now delighted Jordan managed to finish up his basic research using the ideas he discovered in your site. It’s not at all simplistic to just continually be giving for free tricks which usually people may have been selling. And we all acknowledge we have got the writer to give thanks to because of that. The specific illustrations you made, the straightforward site menu, the relationships you help to engender – it’s got everything excellent, and it is leading our son and the family consider that this topic is pleasurable, and that is really serious. Thank you for all!

  9. I absolutely love your website.. Great colors & theme. Did you develop this website yourself? Please reply back as I’m attempting to create my own site and would like to find out where you got this from or what the theme is called. Thank you!

  10. Hi! This post could not be written any better! Reading through this post reminds me of my good old room mate! He always kept chatting about this. I will forward this article to him. Pretty sure he will have a good read. Thank you for sharing!

  11. Heya just wanted to give you a quick heads up and let you know a few of the pictures aren’t loading correctly. I’m not sure why but I think its a linking issue. I’ve tried it in two different internet browsers and both show the same outcome.

  12. I blog often and I genuinely appreciate your information. The article has truly peaked my interest. I will bookmark your site and keep checking for new details about once a week. I subscribed to your Feed too.

  13. I’m impressed, I have to admit. Seldom do I encounter a blog that’s both educative and amusing, and let me tell you, you have hit the nail on the head. The problem is something not enough people are speaking intelligently about. I am very happy that I came across this in my search for something concerning this.

  14. You have made some decent points there. I looked on the net to learn more about the issue and found most individuals will go along with your views on this website.

  15. Can I just say what a comfort to find somebody who actually understands what they are talking about over the internet. You certainly know how to bring a problem to light and make it important. More people have to check this out and understand this side of your story. I was surprised that you are not more popular because you definitely possess the gift.

  16. Hello there! This article couldn’t be written any better! Looking at this article reminds me of my previous roommate! He continually kept preaching about this. I am going to forward this article to him. Pretty sure he’ll have a very good read. Many thanks for sharing!

  17. Hi there, I do believe your web site could be having internet browser compatibility issues. Whenever I look at your blog in Safari, it looks fine but when opening in IE, it has some overlapping issues. I merely wanted to provide you with a quick heads up! Apart from that, great site!

  18. I was wondering if you ever thought of changing the structure of your site? Its very well written; I love what youve got to say. But maybe you could a little more in the way of content so people could connect with it better. Youve got an awful lot of text for only having 1 or 2 pictures. Maybe you could space it out better?

  19. Oh my goodness! Amazing article dude! Thank you, However I am going through problems with your RSS. I don’t understand why I cannot subscribe to it. Is there anybody getting similar RSS problems? Anybody who knows the answer will you kindly respond? Thanx!!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Popular