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A police officer working as a substitute teacher has been banned from a school in Minnesota after putting a student’s head on the hood of a car during an alleged reenactment of the 2020 murder of George Floyd.
The man, who has not been named, was also accused of a series of actions including “racially harmful” and sexist comments to students who also "spoke in disturbing detail about dead bodies he had seen.”
The staffing agency that placed him at Woodbury High School said Wednesday that he also no longer works for them. South Washington County Schools officials said an investigation was underway.
The man was serving as a substitute English teacher on Monday when he told students in four separate 10th and 12th grade classes that they might want to hear about his life as a police officer, school officials said in a letter to students, families and staff.
Floyd, a Black man, died after a white officer pinned his neck to the pavement for nine and a half minutes despite his dying pleas of "I can’t breathe." Children were among the concerned witnesses, including a teen who captured the incident on a video widely viewed on social media.
The officer, Derek Chauvin, was convicted of murder. Floyd’s death touched off protests that sometimes turned violent, testing the leadership of Governor Tim Walz.
The South Washington County Schools district says it serves about 18,700 students at 25 schools in seven communities, with some 37 percent of them identifying as a race other than white.
"I specifically want to acknowledge racial harm that occurred when the substitute teacher reenacted the prone restraint that resulted in the murder of George Floyd," Woodbury High principal Sarah Sorenson-Wanger wrote in her letter.
"This reported behavior is reprehensible. I am embarrassed, and I am sorry this happened to our students. We will take as much time as students need to listen and create open space for courageous conversations that lead to healing, action and education.
“The reported actions are not, and will not, be tolerated at Woodbury High School or in South Washington County Schools," the principal wrote.
Besides the re-enactment of the actions that led to the death of Floyd, students also complained that the substitute teacher "repeatedly made racially harmful comments," "told sexist jokes," said "cops would be the best criminals" because "they know how to get away with stuff," and "stated that police brutality isn’t real," according to the letter.
The man is now prohibited from setting foot on district property and the incident has been reported to the Minnesota Department of Education, the state teacher licensing board and the Woodbury Police Department.
According to the letter from the school, he was not a police officer in Minnesota.
As a substitute, he was hired through Teachers on Call, a staffing agency that’s part of the national Kelly Education employment network. The company said the man passed comprehensive background checks before he was placed.
"The actions of this individual were unacceptable, and the substitute teacher is no longer an employee of Teachers on Call," company spokesperson Danielle Nixon said in a statement.
"We recognize the significant public trust placed in us to ensure our substitute educators maintain a safe learning environment. We have a zero-tolerance policy for any form of violent, aggressive, or harmful behavior."
Citing the ongoing investigation, she added that Teachers on Call is not releasing any additional information on its former employee.
Woodbury Police Chief Jason Posel said in a statement Wednesday that his department is "disturbed by the preliminary information of what occurred" and will investigate this incident to the fullest extent, while showing compassion to the students impacted."
A police spokesman later added that officials didn’t know yet which law enforcement agency employs the substitute teacher.
