Texas Teacher Booted For 'Improper' Puppet Show Murder Assignment

A Texas teacher is at the center of a controversy involving puppets, make-believe murder, and an assignment that got them booted from a San Antonio high school campus.

A substitute theater arts teacher was suspended and removed from Johnson High School last week after students expressed concerns about an in-class assignment in which at least one puppet had to be murdered.

"These were high school students in a theater class with between 20 and 28 students in the class," district public information officer Tim Savoy told Newsweek.

"Substitutes are supposed to follow lesson plans left by the teachers, or use the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills [a state curriculum standard known as TEKS]. This assignment was in neither. So, no policy changes — just a change in this substitute teacher's employment status with our district."

The district's Human Resources department met with the substitute Monday following the late Friday afternoon suspension.

"The investigation has not been able to determine which of the conflicting accounts of the assignment is correct, whether it was for puppets to be murdered or be part of a death scene similar to a Shakespearian play," Savoy said in a press release.

"One group of students did perform a brief scene involving a mass shooting. While the district has determined there was no nefarious intent on the part of the substitute; not providing proper parameters, correcting, intervening to prevent, or interrupting that performance was improper and not acceptable."

Savoy said the substitute teacher who was hired in January will not be invited back to work in the district. The teacher's identity has not been released.

The district apologized to students and parents, but officials do not believe any other action is warranted regarding the substitute except that he no longer be assigned to any jobs in the district.