Oklahoma High School Student Suspended For Photographing Teacher Napping (VIDEO)

A 9th-grade student from Mustang Mid-High School in Mustang, Okla. has been suspended -- for taking a snapshot on his phone of a substitute teacher supposedly napping on the job, KOCO-TV reports.

According to the station, some parents are opposing the decision.

"If anything, they should have been reprimanded for having a phone," parent Steven Graulich told KOCO-TV. "But they probably took it to an extreme because they caught a teacher doing something they weren't supposed to be doing."

Local radio station KRMG reports that the photo shows the teacher leaning back in their chair with their eyes closed.

District spokeswoman Mary Leaver told The Oklahoman that the student wasn't suspended for possibly catching the teacher snoozing in class, but for using a cell phone at school.

“We understand the importance of having these devices,” she told the paper. “But we have to maintain a learning environment.”

Leaver noted that school officials are looking into the teacher's nap, but would not comment further.

WATCH:

Comments

[matt50]

01:30 PM on 01/31/2012

Suspending the kid for using the camera is ridiculous. If it's against policy, maybe detention. Doesn't take away the fact, that a teacher got caught sleeping at work. Have that teacher be in charge of the detention, for free.

[tosc]

10:49 AM on 01/31/2012

hey....teachers would be put on probation for filming students disrupting a class and making it public...so the rule stands for students filming teachers. Unless you want your kid filmed the next time he or she is disrupting the class or telling the teacher off....be mindful of how you are acting now.

[casaroonc]

07:18 AM on 01/31/2012

Quick lets distract everyone with a suspension, & hope they don't notice a teacher was sleeping.

I guess that angle didn't work.

[Marasbaras]

08:17 PM on 01/30/2012

Again, school administrators prove they're worthless.

[pphhrogg]

07:21 PM on 01/30/2012

That student should be immediately reinstated and allowed to make up ANY tests he missed, and that teacher shold be FIRED!

[matt50]

01:31 PM on 01/31/2012

Fired, really. A little extreme, I would think.

[Dede Eagleburger]

11:03 AM on 01/30/2012

I am so glad our school has this policy as well, about no cell phones, for so many reasons...!!

[pphhrogg]

07:21 PM on 01/30/2012

Yeah...especially since they could expose your naps!

[Dede Eagleburger]

08:57 AM on 01/31/2012

LOL...I don't think I have ever nodded off at school yet but there's been some late afternoons I wanted to...!!

[Ellisha Gray]

08:09 PM on 01/29/2012

One of our subs fell asleep and we all hid.

[matt50]

01:34 PM on 01/31/2012

shouldn't you be in class now.

[Ellisha Gray]

08:09 PM on 01/29/2012

Isn't a suspension a little harsh for having a phone in class?

[DesertFlame]

02:48 AM on 01/30/2012

Who knows how many times the kid had been in trouble before. Perhaps, this was the straw that broke the proverbial camel's back. It is called progressive discipline, with each offense the punishment gets a little worse, generally from detention up to suspension or expulsion.

[pphhrogg]

07:22 PM on 01/30/2012

What do YOU know about that kid? I'd bet NOTHING, so your posts was filled with lies.

[matt50]

01:35 PM on 01/31/2012

Thats not fair, none of that was in the article.

[anchises868]

05:53 PM on 01/30/2012

As a teacher, I can attest that it is not harsh. It is one of the ultimate signs of disrespect to the teacher and the rest of the class.

[jeremyv1980]

07:09 PM on 01/30/2012

I think the sleeping teacher is the one that is being disrespectful. There couldn't have been much learning going on when the teacher is sleeping.

[pphhrogg]

07:23 PM on 01/30/2012

And the ultimate sign of dierespect for the students is the teacher FALLING ASLEEP IN CLASS!

[Ellisha Gray]

08:08 PM on 01/29/2012

They should be thanking a kid for alerting them to the situation. Imagine if they hadn't found out and something had happened in that unmonitored group of high schools. The school would doubtless have been sued.

[Ellisha Gray]

07:58 PM on 01/29/2012

If the teacher's asleep, then there's not much of a learning environment to ruin with a cell phone.

[Jill in NYC]

01:16 PM on 01/29/2012

They suspended the wrong person. Sleeping on the job is a big no-no.

[pphhrogg]

07:23 PM on 01/30/2012

that teacher should not have been "suspended". She should have been FIRED!

[stopnlisten]

12:41 PM on 01/29/2012

Fair is fair. Let's start videotaping the actions of kids in class so that parent's can see what their little cupcakes are really like!

[Jerry Bourbon]

05:10 PM on 01/30/2012

Sounds good to me.

What is your point?

[pphhrogg]

07:24 PM on 01/30/2012

Go right ahead. I'll bet the teachers are worse than the students. You sound so disgruntled that I PITY any student who has YOU for a teacher.

[fattrucker]

10:40 AM on 01/29/2012

"Student suspended for holding authority up to ridicule" film at 11

[Hlynn]

09:39 AM on 01/29/2012

First, this was a substitute teacher, so likely not a district employee, government employee, or union member, so if the substitute teacher was asleep then the substitute teacher--and no one else--is accountable. I see too many posts trying to smear all teachers with this report. Second, if the substitute teacher was napping, are there corroborating testimonies from other students? Third, was the substitute teacher really napping or taken a picture of with eyes closed? This is important because a picture of someone with their eyes briefly closed can look like they're asleep when they aren't. Fourth, what is the employment history of the substitute teacher? As any teacher knows, there are substitute teachers we really want with our students, substitute teachers we'd rather not have with our students, and substitute teachers we do not want with our students. Unfortunately, if a teacher calls in sick, we don't always get our pick of substitute teachers and often our students are with whomever is available since someone has to be with the students.

[Ellisha Gray]

08:00 PM on 01/29/2012

Substitute teachers are hired by the school. That being said, the school is only responsible if this was a repeated problem they should have known about.

[Dede Eagleburger]

11:05 AM on 01/30/2012

We don't even know if it was a free period when there wasn't a class present. Thanks Hlynn for making so many good points!!

[agb1953]

09:30 AM on 01/29/2012

He didn't use a cell phone. He used a camera. I've got a pocket calculator I carry everywhere, and it happens to also make phone calls. A good lawyer will eat this school system alive. (Yes, I know, "good lawyer" is a contradiction of terms. Make that a "skilled lawyer.")

[stopnlisten]

12:41 PM on 01/29/2012

Splitting hairs.

[agb1953]

05:25 PM on 01/29/2012

And those hairs are what make the laws. You'd better be glad we split hairs in criminal law or somebody could just decide something you did was "close enough" to be a crime. Stealing $99.99 is a misdemeanor and stealing $100.00 is a felony. That penny more will buy you years in prison. Laws are about things less than a hair different from one another. It's how we set the lines people aren't supposed to cross, we do it with words, and those words are exact. He took a picture, that means he used a camera. That a device has multiple capabilities is of no consequence.

[Greg34]

10:11 AM on 01/30/2012

Those hairs are what makes a union contract as well.

[Caleb Owens]

01:12 PM on 01/29/2012

No they wouldn't, nearly every school in the entire country has the exact same standards about phones and the apps or devices on them. You can't use them, period. Schools are allowed to make their own rules regarding cell phones.

[agb1953]

05:31 PM on 01/29/2012

If this kid had used the calculator function of his pocket device, do you think that would constitute, in a court of law, his using a "phone"? If he used the alarm clock function of his pocket device, do you think that would constitute, in a court of law, his using a phone? How about if he flipped it open to see the time instead of wearing a watch? Is he then also using a phone? Sorry, this one gets killed by any lawyer with enough sense to pass the bar. If I throw a gun at you, I can't be charged with using a firearm any more than if I threw a bullet at you. I can only be charged with assault (or battery if you didn't duck fast enough).

[pphhrogg]

07:25 PM on 01/30/2012

How would YOU know about other schools. You don't, and we all know that.