‘I Don’t Know Who You Are’: Black Substitute Teacher Axed After Reporting Co-Worker Who Hovered Behind Him at a Urinal and Demanded His Identity
A substitute teacher at a North Carolina high school is drawing attention on social media after he accused another teacher of standing right behind him while he was using a urinal and interrogating him. The incident happened at J.H. Rose High School in Greensboro, North Carolina. A video screenshot captures the face of a teacher who questioned a substitute teacher while she was in the bathroom. (Photo: TikTok/Ziahdadriva) Now-viral videos of the encounter that were posted last week garnered numerous reactions on social media after being posted by Ziahdadriva on TikTok. ‘Should Know Better’: Young Louisiana Boy Stands Up to White Man Who Called Him a Slur in a Wild Caught-on-Camera Exchange In the caption of one clip, the sub wrote, "This teacher was standing behind me while I'm actively peeing asking me what am I doing in the staff restroom(I'm a sub)....Even If I Was A Student NO TEACHER should be standing behind anyone while they are actively using the bathroom it doens't matter the circumstances, That's an Invasion of privacy, Unprofessional conduct and it's weird." One video shows the sub confronting the teacher as they leave the bathroom. The teacher is heard asking another staff member whether the man is a substitute teacher. "Why are you standing behind me while I'm using the bathroom?" the sub asks. "'Cause I don't know who you are," the teacher responds. More video footage shows other staff members coming to the teacher's defense in the hallway. One female staffer says the teacher was merely verifying whether the sub was a student or a teacher because the sub looks young. However, the sub counters that his questions weren't the issue, but rather his poor bathroom etiquette. https://www.tiktok.com/@ziahdadriva/video/7572233361494773022?_r1&_tZP-91TmN2p1fO3 Another video shows the meeting between the sub, the teacher, and the school principal, in which the sub reiterates the discomfort he felt from the teacher's conduct in the bathroom. The teacher explains that he encountered the sub in the staff bathroom and saw he wasn't wearing a lanyard that could identify him as a staff member. He said the sub left the stall door open while he was in the bathroom. Because he didn't know whether the sub was a student or a teacher, he asked who he was. The sub understood the teacher's need to know his identity, but challenged why he would stand right behind him in a private space rather than wait until he came out of the bathroom to question him. The principal never addressed the sub's concerns, but decided to dismiss him from his duties for the day, stating that his dismissal was "for the sake of peace." https://www.tiktok.com/@ziahdadriva/video/7572240745621425438?_r1&_tZP-91TmOnKcoIA Many viewers sided with the sub's response and challenged the principal's decision to make him leave the campus. "If he suspected it was a student, then whether the door was open or closed, he should have immediately removed himself from the room while a potential minor under his care was exposed. Why is that rocket science?" one person commented. "There's NO amount of questioning acceptable while standing behind someone using the bathroom. NONE! It could have waited," someone else wrote.
