A high school teacher is seen in a viral video forcibly ejecting an unmasked student from his classroom, setting off a firestorm of anger and multiple calls for something to be done with the educator.
“The short clip shows a masked, apparently bald man grab an unmasked male student from behind in a bear hug and walk him out of the room, intermittently lifting him off the floor in the process, until they’re both through the doorway,” The Blaze reported Friday.
Onlooking students appear to laugh at the unfolding scenario as the student himself responds, though his words are unintelligible.
WATCH:
Teacher at @AVUSD forcibly removes a student from the classroom for not wearing a mask pic.twitter.com/S5vVuAGLlU
— Libs of Tik Tok (@libsoftiktok) February 23, 2022
The Apple Valley Unified School District — which is about 50 minutes north of San Bernardino in Southern California — was tagged in the tweeted video, identifying the school where the incident is said to have occurred.
In a Facebook statement Wednesday, the district noted that it’s “been made aware of a video circulating on social media of a student and staff member at [Apple Valley High School]. At this time, AVUSD is investigating the incident and appropriate outside agencies have been notified. All investigations are confidential. We cannot comment on active investigations. Appropriate actions will be taken based on the California Penal Code and/or Education Code violations.”
HD Daily News, located in Hesperia, which is around 20 minutes southwest of Apple Valley, reported that district rules require all students to be masked or otherwise attend courses outdoors:
Reports on social media indicate that the teacher had done so because Apple Valley Unified School District has implemented a mandatory mask policy while inside classrooms. An inquiry into the district to get the official policy has not been responded to as of yet. However, one social media user has said that the school principal at one point has stated that no child will be forcefully removed from a classroom.
The media outlet updated its story on Thursday, reporting that the school district issued a statement: “The current policy states that if a student refuses to wear their mask indoors, they are not permitted to stay indoors. Students have been provided an outdoor environment where they can complete assigned classwork. If students are defiant the district encourages students to comply.”
The school district’s Facebook post did not allow comments, so social media users responded to a separate, unrelated post from a week ago, per The Blazed:
