A Colorado middle school teacher came under fire after he typed the following note to his students last week: “Silent reading … I want to kill children but I am a loving Christian man who never would hurt a flee [sic] so please sit down and read.”
Unsurprisingly, the teacher no longer works at the school.
According to the Washington Post, the note was displayed on a projector screen at Otho E. Stuart Middle School in the Denver suburb of Commerce City. Officials said Kris Burghart, the eighth grade teacher behind the ill-conceived note, was placed on administrative leave after one of his students took a photo of the message and showed it to his/her parents. School officials were alerted of the incident shortly after it was posted on Dec. 1.
Burghart ended up resigning last Friday.
“I want to inform you that the origin of the statements is not in question. It is my firm belief that at no time, under any circumstance is it acceptable to threaten harm to our students—not as a teaching tool, not as venting frustration, not as a joke,” School District 27J superintendent Chris Fiedler wrote in a letter to students’ parents. “[…] In any internal investigation, I carefully consider all the facts presented to me while keeping the safety and security of our students and staff as my main focus. I want to inform you that Mr. Burghart has resigned from his duties as a 27J teacher effective immediately.”
Some parents expressed their support for Burghart, insisting he was a good teacher who should’ve remained at the school.
“My daughter is so upset about this,” one parent wrote on the school’s Facebook page. “She felt Mr. Burghart was and is a great teacher. He also stated that he was a good Christian man, which is not supported by the school or the district. We do not support this decision.”
Others seemed satisfied with the teacher's departure. “[He] should have been fired,” someone wrote, “but he resigned to save face. What a lousy teacher.”
