I'm amazed that they let this flamer stay in the classroom AFTER the incident. Anita Bryant is probably quite proud of this guy.
Teacher accused of mocking boys as gay for talking
By BRAD SCHMIDT, The Times-Union
The Clay County school system allowed a teacher to remain in the classroom nearly a week after he was accused of disciplining two sixth-graders by instructing the boys to hold hands as he told classmates they were gay.
Larry Eger, who resigned Thursday, told the Swimming Pen Creek Elementary students to sit knee-to-knee in the front of the class after they were caught Sept. 23 mouthing words to each other, said Jackie Fuller, a mother of one of the boys.
She said Eger told the boys to hold hands but they refused, and then Eger announced to the rest of the class that they were gay.
"They said the other kids were laughing," Fuller said.
Eger, 63, did not return calls Friday left by The Florida Times-Union.
Superintendent David Owens said officials learned of the incident Sept. 23 and received Eger's two-week notice Monday. Owens said the school district has the power to remove teachers from a classroom but wouldn't say why Eger was allowed to continue.
"I'm not going to make any comments on that," Owens said.
He said the district is doing an internal investigation on the incident but refused to disclose Eger's resignation letter or any details about the incident.
Fuller said her son and his friend went to the school principal immediately after the incident and explained what happened.
"Nobody called us. Nobody told us anything," Fuller said. "We had to find out from our children when we got home. It still blows my mind."
Fuller said she went to the school Monday morning to complain and was told the district would handle the situation. Fuller said she and the other boy's family asked that the students be placed in other classrooms because Eger was still teaching.
By Thursday, Fuller said she hadn't heard back from the district.
"I was mad that he was still there," she said. "I just thought the school was running me around. You just don't treat children like that."
Eger joined the district Aug. 2 and signed a one-year contract for $44,925. He resigned from his position during his 97-day probationary period, district spokeswoman Darlene Mahla said.
Eger has a bachelor's degree in elementary education and has been teaching at schools in Florida, Georgia and Texas since 1970, according to his personnel record.
The incident was the latest controversy in the Clay school system.
In August, a senior at Fleming Island High School wore a racist T-shirt to school under his regular clothing. A black student who saw the undershirt hit the student. Both were disciplined, although the district would not disclose details.
Then on Sept. 15, the School Board approved an out-of-court agreement to revise the district's policy regarding "sexual orientation." Fleming Island High School graduate Kelli Davis had threatened to sue the school system when her senior portrait was removed from the yearbook because she wore a tuxedo instead of the girl's traditional drape.
Karen Doering, who represented Davis in her dispute with the district, said she was outraged when she heard about the latest incident and the response by school officials.
"I think it's absolutely outrageous and is a clear indication as to why it was so important that this particular school district add sexual discrimination to it's policy and training," she said. "Short of using an anti-gay epithet, that is one of the most flagrant anti-gay biases by a teacher that I have ever heard."
Owens said the school district does not foster bigoted views.
"When you're dealing with people, it's just not a perfect world," he said. "It's something that's occurred, and we're dealing with it."
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