Two Texas high school student face disciplinary action after staging a mock assassination of President-elect Donald Trump for their English class presentation.
The San Antonio Express-News reported the two 10th grade male students performed a skit entitled “The Assassination of Donald Trump” last week at John Marshall High School. As part of their performance, one of the boys made a gunfire sound effect with his cell phone while the other boy, portraying the President-elect, fell to the ground pretending to be dead.
The so-called skit was for a high school English class assignment. Students, including these boys, previously submitted ideas for their sketches to the teacher for approval. However, these two teens changed their material, unbeknownst to the teacher, KSAT reported.
Northside Independent School District spokesman Barry Perez told the Express-News “appropriate action” was taken to reprimand the teacher and the students. He said the students would face disciplinary attention.
However, Harold and Melinda Bean, parents of a student in that English class, were outraged by what took place and were not so sure the matter was handled appropriately. They complained about the skit to administrators at this San Antonio area school district and also spoke to the San Antonio newspaper.
The district spokesman said the English teacher apologized on Monday. He called her a “rock solid educator,” according to KSAT.
Said Harold Bean: “I don’t understand how the teacher can repeat an apology and be right back there at work on Monday morning.” He added: “Though we understand she is apologetic, it does not make the situation right.”
Perez insisted the teacher “recognized the inappropriateness” of the mock Trump assassination skit and told KSAT she “stopped it in its tracks in the classroom.”
“Honestly I have run out of words to describe how angry I am and how shocked I am that they’re still in school today,” Melinda Bean told the Express-News.
To her point, Texas public school children have been suspended for far less serious reasons than depicting the assassination of the President-elect.
Last year, Breitbart Texas reported on a budding fourth grade magician accused of terrorizing his classmates because he said that he would make them “disappear” with a Lord of the Rings pretend ring. Nationwide, youngsters have faced punishment over Pop-Tart guns, Nerf guns, Lego guns, pointed “pow pow” finger guns, and bubble guns. One Texas 10-year-old boy spent part of a weekend in adult jail over a neighborhood kid scuffle.
Still, Northside ISD insisted the incident was addressed. Late Friday, Superintendent, Dr. Brian Woods, issued a statement:
“An incident at John Marshall High School has drawn local and national media attention. I want to provide more clarity to what actually occurred and address our stance on the matter.
Last week, an English teacher at Marshall HS instructed her students to create and perform a brief in-class skit following their study of Shakespeare. The teacher asked for students to submit their scripts for her preview and approval.
Two students, after their original script had been submitted, changed their skit to include a mock assassination of the President-Elect. The teacher had no idea this change had occurred until the students began to perform this in the classroom.
The teacher stopped the student skit immediately when it became apparent that it was inappropriate.
I want to be clear: NISD does not condone the action of these students or anyone else who would threaten violence. The incident was addressed immediately and appropriately by the teacher and campus administration.”
Northside ISD closed for Thanksgiving break on Friday.
Follow Merrill Hope, a member of the original Breitbart Texas team, on Twitter.
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