A former middle school teacher in Virginia was arrested after instructing his students to write how they could kill a fellow student, Scripps News Norfolk reported.
The news outlet discovered, after filing a Freedom of Information Act request with the Department of Education concerning teachers in the state who had lost their license, that one teacher lost a license and was later arrested after telling students to write down "ways to kill" a particular student.
After receiving the instruction, the students reportedly used their tablets to write down various ideas such as feeding the child to a dog or burning him alive. The child targeted later told his parents, who notified authorities.
The incident occurred in January 2022 in an English class taught by the teacher, who was not named in the report but was employed by Crestwood Middle School in Chesapeake, Virginia, until April 2022.
The teacher reportedly told authorities, when asked why he gave the assignment, that it was difficult to engage with the students, and that the student who had been singled out hadn’t appeared bothered at the time.
The teacher agreed that the assignment was inappropriate and called it an error in judgment. The teacher was arrested and pleaded guilty to one misdemeanor count of contributing to the delinquency of a minor.
The Chesapeake School District said in a statement that the teacher "was employed as a teacher at Crestwood Middle School from Aug. 31, 2020, through April 8, 2022. Our practice is that we do not comment further on such situations involving personnel.
"The safety of our students is our top priority, and Chesapeake Public Schools expects all employees to act with the utmost professionalism to provide a positive learning environment for all students."
Theodore Bunker ✉
Theodore Bunker, a Newsmax writer, has more than a decade covering news, media, and politics.
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