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School's Out: Students Recall Why *That* Teacher Got Fired

Reddit user Ok-Discipline-4312 asked: 'How did that teacher get fired at your school?'

Black and white photo of teacher standing at front of classroom
Photo by Immo Wegmann on Unsplash

Whether or not we liked going to school growing up, we can likely all agree that we had one of those teachers who really didn't belong in the classroom.

From terrible tempers, little patience, and other bad behaviors, there are qualities that absolutely shouldn't be exhibited by a teacher.

But at least in some cases, the teacher gets caught in the act.

Redditor Ok-Discipline-4312 asked:

"How did that teacher get fired at your school?"

Creepy Phone Calls

"In the early 90s, a female student at my high school was receiving obscene phone calls."

"When police interviewed her, she told them, 'He sounds kind of like my history teacher.'"

" The police put a tracer on her phone, and the caller did turn out to be her history teacher."

- mythrowaweighin

Passing the Torch

"My high school had a notoriously stoney gym teacher, who was also hilarious. Every year, he did a miscellaneous object raffle during a random lunch hour. He basically just gave away whatever was in the lost and found box."

"Well, my junior year, one of the objects was a large and elaborate 'vase.'"

"Basically, he handed a student a giant f**king bong. He retired a few days later."

- Forever_Man

Rolling with the Punches

"A teacher used a sick day rather than a vacation day to fly to Japan to fight in MMA. He got caught and was fired for improper use of time off."

"He lost his fight and chose a different career path afterward."

- flickmypoodle

Questionable Drinks

"They used alcohol on the job. They had a bottle in the top left drawer."

"It took years to catch them, though."

- ray458

"I had a few teachers like that. One lady had a can of Tab every day (remember Tab soda? laughing out loud)."

"Some kid made a mark on the bottom with a pen or something and found out it was the same can every day. She was refilling it from a bottle in her car."

- AdWonderful5920

One Word: Embezzlement

"Embezzling from the students. For quite a few years, she would collect money for this 'senior trip' that never seemed to materialize."

"She was arrested a few years after I graduated. I wonder if she's out of prison yet?"

- Aeolian78

"Holy s**t, I just had a repressed memory pop up in my head. We had a 'ski club' when I was in 8th grade, and the teachers constantly collected money from us for our 'ski trip' that we never took. I wonder where all that money went?"

- whimsy_xo

All for the Prom Queen

"S**t, there was a vice principal that wanted her daughter, who went to the same school, to be the homecoming queen super bad."

"So she hacked into dozens of parents' district portal accounts and stuffed the ballot for her daughter."

"Not quite 'steal the money' or 'embezzle' bad, but still 'go to prison and never work in education again' and also 'your daughter isn't going to college now' bad."

- thewrongbakedpotato

A Sweet Future

"My middle school choir teacher was a closeted gay man. He had a long-term boyfriend but none of us knew about it, until one day a parent saw them at a HOUSE PARTY making out."

"They spread rumors throughout the school and multiple parents immediately removed their children from his class. The parents complained to the school and got him fired."

"The good news is, he eventually quit teaching and opened up a bakery with his partner, which did very well and got featured on 'Cupcake Wars.'"

- xain_the_id**t

Sprinkled with Annoyance

"A teacher threw a donut at an annoying student."

- AdEffective3077

"What a waste of a perfectly good donut!"

- No-Swing-2099

Possible Repercussions

"Because of me, I think. Once in primary school, I was messing around with a classmate, and she threw a sponge at me, making me chase her around the classroom."

"The teacher tried to stop me and grabbed me by the neck, making me fall on my back. It didn’t hurt, but I was surprised."

"I don’t remember how, but the principal and my parents got involved, and we never saw the teacher again after that. He was sort of a substitute teacher, and from what I can remember, he was pretty well-liked even by me."

- jeremydeoderant

Incredible Road Rage

"He cut off my grandpa in an explosive road rage incident, pulled him out of his truck, and beat him to the ground so bad that my grandpa was in the hospital for weeks."

"Thankfully, my grandpa was okay, but his job (and his marriage, and social life) didn’t survive."

- NykxMarie

High School Drama

"At my school, the new French teacher started screwing the old computer teacher, who was married to the geometry teacher."

"At the end of it, just the geometry teacher had her job and all the other two teachers' money because she divorced the computer teacher and managed to sue the French teacher as part of an alienation of affection suit."

"Then she hooked up with the metal shop teacher."

- mama_bear_740

Three Strikes, You're Out

"The teacher called up a female student to work a problem on the blackboard. The student didn't want to participate. After some verbal back and forth, the student went to the blackboard and muttered something under her breath."

"The teacher grabbed the student's hair with both hands and proceeded to slam her head into the blackboard. 'You (slam) will listen (slam) to me (slam)!'"

"About three seconds later, the teacher realized what she was doing and released the student's hair. The student looked at her, said, 'You are sooooo fired,' and left the room."

"We had a new math teacher the next day."

- reference999

The Dispassionate Teacher

"My memory of this is kinda hazy since this happened 10 and a half years ago."

"She was telling at us, I don't remember if anything specific triggered her episode but she said s**t like, 'I don't give a rat's a** what you think,' and 'I wish I could use the paddle.'"

"Although the one thing I'll always remember was before she sat down, she said, 'I'm going on Facebook, I don't care what the h**l you do.'"

"I guess she got fired the same day, because we had a sub after lunch, and we had a new short-term sub every few days before we got a long-term sub for the rest of the year."

- mariofan426

That Would Do It

"He taught me physics for three years and became principal for two years."

"Then they realized he didn’t even have the teaching qualification."

- pol9500

It's obvious why these teachers were quickly removed from their roles as teachers and unable to ever teach again.

But the thought that these things ever happened in a classroom are deeply unsettling.

Teachers have to deal with unruly students on a daily basis.

When stern words and warnings prove to be insufficient, they are often left with no other choice than to send them to the principal's office.

Usually, the reasons for sending them there are relatively minor, such as talking during class, passing notes, or causing a disruption.

Other times it's a bit more serious, such as bullying a classmate or making mean, insensitive remarks.

Then there are the times that can only be described as bizarre.

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Students in a classroom
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One never usually expects every kid to be excited to go to school.

But when children all over the world were forced to finish their school years from home when the pandemic hit in 2020, they all might have realized that they might have enjoyed the ins and outs of school a bit more than they thought.

So, as schools started to gradually re-open, children practically couldn't wait to get back into a classroom.

For the most part, that is.

While many proud parents and teachers posted many happy pictures of children joyously returning to their classrooms, in no time at all, students quickly realized that going to school was going to be a completely different experience than before the pandemic.

Even today, when most, if not all, schools have dropped the protocols they implemented when re-opening after the pandemic, teachers have noticed changes big and small in the behavior of their students.

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Teacher at a chalkboard
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Generally in the eyes of many young students, educators are inspiring individuals who are passing on their wisdom to prepare the future leaders of the world.

But as with all humans, they have flaws. The difference that sets certain teachers apart are the ones who maintain their professionalism and don't let their deeply-shelved insecurities interfere in the classroom.

And then there are the kinds of teachers who were just never meant to be in an academic setting at all and are eventually dismissed for various indiscretions.

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School can be a dangerous place.

Indeed, with bullying remaining an ongoing problem, some students are afraid to even set foot in school.

Then, of course, there's the terrifying fact that school shootings remain a shockingly common occurrence in the United States.

As a result, it's not only the students who find themselves scared to go to school sometimes but also the teachers.

With the current climate, sometimes when a teacher sees a student behave in even a slightly peculiar manner, they tend to assume the worst.

Thankfully, sometimes their fears are unfounded.

Other times, their fears were heartbreakingly accurate.

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