Florida teacher FIRED for interrupting Muslim students' prayer and accusing them of performing 'magic'
PEMBROKE PINES, FLORIDA: A Florida teacher was fired after it was alleged that she was caught on camera interfering with Muslim students while they prayed and accusing them of doing "magic," in a TikTok video that has now gone viral.
Three pupils from Franklin Academy, a charter school in Pembroke Pines, are seen in the video doing a prayer as one of them recite "Surah At-Tin" from the Quran, according to NBC News. The TikTok video was shared on Thursday, December 8 and has now received more than 30K comments and 1M likes. "Hold on, this is my office and y'all doing all this magic," the teacher, who has not been publicly identified, can be heard saying in the background while the pupils are praying. The teacher can then be seen blowing a whistle to try to draw their attention before walking right through their prayers and even kicking one student's hands.
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The teacher interrupted the students who were fully engaged in their prayers, saying, "I believe in Jesus, so I'm interrupting the floor," before she inquired once more as to why they were in her office. Someone can be heard saying to the teacher, "They're praying," as the pupils continue to pray while ignoring the teacher.
@gawpu i literally dont even believe what happened to me is real im still shook. #muslim #praying #tate #prayer #andrewtate #andrewmuslim #kanye #islam ♬ snowfall - Øneheart & Reidenshi
Muslims offer five daily prayers, which include keeping their heads bent and prostrating repeatedly without stopping. The video, which has received over 3 million views, incited uproar on social media. One person commented, "The disrespect is outrageous 🤦🏾♀️🤦🏾♀️Subhanallah," and another person chimed in, "Nha that’s crazy when she said 'magic'🤦."
A third person commented, "She's supposed to protect them. An be educated enough to know that isn't magic, that they're praying! SMH I'm so sorry." One person who thinks that schools should have a prayer room wrote, "Mashallah you continued prayer ignoring her, we need prayer rooms at school."
In response to the disturbing incident, the school issued a statement that read, "Earlier today, a very troubling TikTok video was shared with our leadership team. The video appears to show a teacher interrupting students during a moment of prayer. Upon receipt of the video, organizational and school leadership began immediately investigating the situation."
The school added that it "does not tolerate discriminatory behavior" after that and the statement continued, "While we do not discuss personnel matters, we can share with you that the teacher in question is no longer a member of the Franklin Academy staff."
The statement concluded, "We thank our parents for partnering with us and trusting us with their child(ren) and their education. Through the continued communication that we foster as a team, our schools can only become stronger." The Florida chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-Florida) claims that incidents like this highlight how important it is for school officials to be aware about other religions' rituals.