16 Incidents That Caused Teachers To Be Fired

Recently, a Reddit user went viral after they asked, "How did that teacher get fired at your school?"

A woman looking at a cellphone and covering her mouth in shocke
Peopleimages / Getty Images

The thread was FLOODED with people sharing tales about their former educators, ranging from inappropriate relationships with students to other questionable behaviors:

Warning: This post contains discussion of suicide.

1. "In the early '90s, a female student at my high school was receiving obscene phone calls. When police interviewed her, she told them, 'He sounds kind of like my history teacher.' The police put a tracer on her phone, and the caller did turn out to be her history teacher."

u/mythrowaweighin

"It's always the history teacher."

u/Routine_Internet_320

2. "The teacher used corporal punishment. We were first-graders, and she made those of us who didn’t have our homework kneel on salt/seeds/buckwheat. One of the kids in my class was literally the most obedient kid, and she was top of the class and always had her homework — that day, she must’ve forgotten it at home. The teacher made her kneel, and the girl cried so quietly and without a sound and peed in her uniform. She transferred and never came back after that day. Yeah, it was a private school. Parents heard about it and threatened to sue."

u/fiddyfy

3. "She got caught getting high in her car between class periods."

u/GrimeyScorpioDuffman

"My high school had a notoriously stoner-y gym teacher, who was also hilarious. Every year, he did a miscellaneous object raffle during a random lunch hour. He basically just gave away whatever was in the lost and found box. Well, my junior year, one of the objects was a large and elaborate 'vase.' Basically, he handed a student a giant fucking bong. He retired a few days later."

u/Forever_Man

A smiling woman in a car smoking
Giulio Fornasar / Getty Images

4. "A teacher at my school wasn't quite right. Students and staff had been mentioning things regularly to the deputies…just noting she was a bit odd, said a few funny things, and didn't seem to quite be with the schedule. One day, she was supervising an exam, and she shit herself in the classroom. She then continued supervising. Eventually, a kid left for a bathroom and desperately flagged down a teacher to ask for some help. She left that day and didn't return. She was weird, but I hope she's okay."

u/commentspanda

5. "She walked into her house to find that her only son had hanged himself. The school district did not allow her any grieving time and then fired her because 'she wasn't at the same level she used to be and her students were falling behind.' Needless to say, the community ripped the school board a new asshole, and she was hired back and received the rest of the school year off."

u/bigmac22077

6. "She got caught making meth when her in-home meth lab blew up lol."

u/Leonardo3Inchyy

7. "They used a sick day rather than a vacation day to fly to Japan to fight in MMA. Got caught and was fired for improper use of time off."

u/flickmypoodle

Two people talking at a desk
Prathanchorruangsak / Getty Images

8. "Robbed a bank wearing the same clothes he wore to school that day."

u/craziedave

9. "Use of alcohol on the job. Bottle in the top left drawer. Took years, though."

u/ray458

10. "A Spanish teacher got fired because he was teaching with an expired teaching license."

u/Havok1717

12. "For embezzling from the students. For quite a few years, she would collect money for this 'senior trip' that never seemed to materialize. She was arrested a few years after I graduated. I wonder if she's out of prison yet?"

u/Aeolian78

A person in handcuffs
David Fairclough / Getty Images

13. "My middle school choir teacher was a closeted gay man. He had a long-term boyfriend, but none of us knew about it until one day a parent saw them at a HOUSE PARTY making out. They spread rumors throughout the school, and multiple parents immediately removed their children from his class. The parents complained to the school and got him fired. The good news is, he eventually quit teaching and opened up a bakery with his partner, which did very well and got featured on Cupcake Wars."

u/xain_the_idiot

14. "Some foolish people thought it would be funny to accuse a teacher of groping them. It never happened, but by the time the truth came out, the teacher had already lost his job and his reputation. He never worked again. Jokes have real consequences."

u/zerbey

15. "Had an art teacher who basically ignored the class and sat at her computer the whole class. One day, a guy went to the TV/VCR in the corner of the room and put on a porno, muting the TV. She didn’t notice. Word spread, and she ended up getting fired. Also, my asshole of a sophomore English teacher got fired for being 'too friendly' with some female students."

u/Xiao_Qinggui

16. "He murdered three people. So yeah, teaching just wasn’t going to work out…"

u/PodSixWasJerks

Have you ever had a teacher get fired? Tell us your story in the comments below.

Note: Some responses have been edited for length and/or clarity.

If you are concerned that a child is experiencing or may be in danger of abuse, you can call or text the National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-422-44531-800-422-2253 (4.A.CHILD); service can be provided in over 140 languages.

If you or someone you know has experienced sexual assault, you can call the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE, which routes the caller to their nearest sexual assault service provider. You can also search for your local center here.

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is 1-800-273-8255. Other international suicide helplines can be found at befrienders.org. The Trevor Project, which provides help and suicide-prevention resources for LGBTQ youth, is 1-866-488-7386. 

If you or someone you know has experienced anti-LGBTQ violence or harassment, you can contact the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs hotline at 1-212-714-1141.