The actions of a sixth-grade teacher in Florida have sparked outrage after he shared TikTok videos in which white students were seen bowing to their black peers. The teacher also posted a video of himself mocking the “Stop Woke Act,” a Florida state law that prohibits public schools from teaching Critical Race Theory and other discriminatory lessons.
Parents ripped the teacher, Ethan Hooper, for using children as political pawns in his TikTok videos. The Orange County Public Schools, Hooper’s employer, has also released a statement condemning the videos.
“I’m about to run up on these kids and start banning books right away,” Hooper said in the video, which was subtitled “problematic books,” before taking away a book from a boy and yelling, “Hey, hey, hey, what’cha all reading? You reading Harry Potter? Oh, witchcraft? Gotta go. Gotta go.”
He then grabs a book titled “Crossover,” yelling, “A black boy? No. Absolutely not.”
Hopper is then seen grabbing another book called “The Hate You Give,” declaring, “I’m gonna give you something to hate. This book’s gone.”
In another video, he forced students to participate in a skit where white students waited on and bowed to black students.
“If one of the teachers was using my kid for political gain, that would upset me,” one father said. “What if I don’t believe in that, and, you know, that’s not what I’m teaching my kid?”
“He needs to lose his job now,” another critic demanded.
“He can take his issues to adults in the system. Instead, he used children he’s supposed to be caring for on a personal social media account,” one critic of the video said, as another person wrote: “What is a teacher doing on social media during school hours, much less posting his students’ identities?”
Florida teacher makes students participate in a series of tiktoks mocking the FL Dept of Education for removing books from schools containing pornography, CRT, and gender ideology pic.twitter.com/i8BzdhFsbw
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) February 17, 2023
This Florida teacher made students participate in a skit for black history month where white students act like servants for black students pic.twitter.com/g29SgNd3pn
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) February 17, 2023
“Orange County Public Schools will not tolerate the use of our children as political pawns by anyone, including a classroom teacher,” said the Orange County Public School District in a statement. “Any employee … who creates videos or other content with students in an effort to exploit them for political purposes will be immediately removed from the classroom, placed on administrative leave and swift action will be taken to terminate employment.”
Orange County Public Schools Superintendent Maria Vazquez said the videos were way out of line.
“I am appalled at the behavior and judgment of the teacher who posted the inappropriate videos using his students as political props,” Vazquez said. “This is not free speech — it is the exploitation of our students for political purposes, and it will not be tolerated in our school district.”
Another district official said that Hooper would be disciplined for his actions while a local report said he was put on administrative leave.
“Any employee of who creates videos or other content with students in an effort to exploit them for political purposes will be immediately removed from the classroom, placed on administrative leave and swift action will be taken to terminate employment,” Orange County Public Schools’ Media Manager Michael Ollendorf stated.
