A Rockdale County teacher is on administrative leave following a verbal incident with a student, according to school leaders.
The situation at Rockdale Career Academy was captured on cell phone video, according to Parent April Carr. She sent that cell phone video to FOX 5, saying it shows a teacher threatening her 11th-grade son. The teacher was named as Paul Hagen, in a Rockdale County Sheriff's Office report that Carr filed.
The video shows Hagen reportedly saying, "I'm serious, dude. If you screw with me, you're going to get in big [expletive] trouble. Don't smile at me, man. That's how people like you get shot. I got a bet. I bet, by the time you're 21, somebody is going to put a bullet in your head. OK? And it might be me...the one who does it."
Carr spoke with FOX 5's Marissa Mitchell about the incident.
"It sets an overall tone that is totally unacceptable," Carr said. "I'm upset, hurt and confused."
The mother told Mitchell her son admitted to laughing while Hagen was teaching his Physics class. He believes his behavior sparked the rant.
"He definitely should have been paying attention, getting his lesson...and doing what he was supposed to be doing," Carr stressed. "But at the end of the day, he is a child and that teacher is an adult. He is supposed to maintain control of that classroom and of himself... if you are frustrated, pull him out the class or wait until another class period. Let yourself calm down then pull him to the side and talk to him. You don't threaten his life."
Carr said Hagen apologized to her son after the incident. But she wants the teacher terminated from the job altogether.
A school spokesperson told Mitchell the incident remains under investigation.
