Southern California teacher placed on leave after anti-Trump rant in front of students
Dozens of Chino High School students left their classrooms on Wednesday after their teacher launched an anti-Trump rant.
"Just do the warm-up. I'm pissed," he said. "People voting for a freaking rapist and I'm pissed off. I don't care, fire the hell out of me. I'm fighting for my daughter, my nieces, their rights."
Students said the English teacher launched the tirade after one of their classmates wore a Trump hat to class and refused to take it off. The Chino Valley Unified School District placed him on leave after a recording of the rant surfaced. The kids staged their walkout during their second and third periods to support their teacher, whom they hadn't seen since the incident.
"The district policy is that you are not allowed to wear hats in class and it is required of a student to remove them in class," student Bridget Moore said. "The student refused to do so."
Witnesses said the teacher called security and sent the student to the principal's office.
"A child molester, huh? Vote for that freaking rapist," he said. "I have a daughter, three nieces and he'd rape them, and people are voting for him. Christians are voting for him — bunch of losers, fake Christians."
Sonja Shaw, the CVUSD Board president, said parents have called with their objections to what they call anti-Christian comments.
"I can't give specifics on disciplinary actions other than telling you in an official capacity the teacher has been put on leave for investigation," Shaw said.
CVUSD confirmed that hats are not allowed in classrooms.
"At this point, the district does not provide specific information in order to preserve the integrity of the investigation," spokesperson Andi Johnston said.
In the meantime, hundreds of students have signed an online petition in support of their teacher, because they said the recordings don't show what led up to the meltdown.
"He deserves to know everybody cares about him and shouldn't lose his job over something a student caused," student Katrina Munoz said.
It's unclear how long the investigation will take. The students who skipped class for the demonstration were marked as not present for class.
"This has made a lot of students very sad because it makes the school look bad," Moore said. "Because it makes it look like we have crazy teachers here when we don't."
