A South Florida teacher is out of a job after a video posted on social media appeared to show her interrupting Muslim students as they were praying. NBC 6’s Amanda Plasencia reports.
A South Florida teacher is out of a job after a video posted on social media appeared to show her interrupting Muslim students as they were praying.
The alleged incident happened at Franklin Academy, a public charter school in Pembroke Pines.
The viral video was posted on TikTok on Wednesday and shows two Muslim students reciting a prayer in Arabic when they're interrupted by a female voice.
"Hold on, this my office, and y'all doing this magic," the voice says. "I believe in Jesus so I'm interrupting the floor, excuse me."
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A whistle blows and it appears the person, believed to be the teacher, steps over the praying students.
"And why are they in my office?" she says. "Who told them to come in here?"
In a statement, Franklin Academy officials said they immediately began an investigation once they were made aware of the video.
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"Yesterday, a very troubling TikTok video was shared with our leadership team. The video appears to show a teacher interrupting students during a moment of prayer," the statement said. "Upon receipt of the video, organizational and school leadership began immediately investigating the situation."
The name of the teacher wasn't released, but officials with the school said she has lost her job.
"Franklin Academy does not tolerate discriminatory behavior," the school statement read. "While we do not discuss personnel matters, we can share with you that the teacher in question is no longer a member of the Franklin Academy staff."
Some parents who NBC 6 spoke with Friday said they agreed with the school's decision to fire the teacher.
"I don’t believe her conduct was correct. She handled it very poorly. She should have been in a better professional manner," parent Ileana Rodriguez said.
“I think they did the respectable thing because they should not impose unto religion and they should not have to judge or do anything in that nature so I feel like it was the respectable thing that the school did letting the teacher go," Annie Cid said.
