Video of a Texas middle school teacher lowering her mask and purposefully breathing onto a student has gone viral on social media, prompting investigation by authorities.
The incident took place at Mead Middle School on September 17. In the viral clip, the teacher can be seen approaching a female student who is cornered between a wall and a desk. The teacher is then seen lowering her mask and breathing on her.
“Shut up. First of all, don’t get it twisted. I don’t care. I don’t care,” the teacher is heard saying in the clip.
“Get out of my face,” the student says back.
“Make me,” the teacher responds.
The video has since gone viral and viewed over 103,000 times on Facebook as of Saturday evening.
The student from the video, Jacqueline Garza, told local media that the unidentified teacher swore at her during the altercation.
Though the circumstances behind the altercation were not known, the student said that prior to the incident, the teacher had been attempting to get them to stop using their phones.
“We were using our phones and she asked us not to use our phones. I was like, ‘Okay.’ And she was like, ‘Okay.’ And we went back and forth and she said, ‘Don’t disrespect me like that,'” Garza told Click2Houston. “
Garza claimed that it was at this point that the teacher began to walk towards her aggressively.
“That’s when she got in my face and she said, ‘Don’t disrespect me!’ She was breathing on my face with her mask off, spitting on my face. It made me feel embarrassed and scared, not just for me, but my whole class,” she said.
After the video surfaces on the internet, the teacher was placed on administrative leave by the Aldine Independent School District. A probe is underway.
Meanwhile, the district told the Daily Mail that the teacher faces termination.
“After being notified of the incident, the teacher was removed from the classroom and an investigation was conducted. The investigation has concluded and the district will take appropriate administrative action,” a district spokesperson told the publication.
