SAN JOSE – An East Side Union High School District teacher is on administrative leave after he appeared on camera bare-chested during a distance-learning class Friday.
Elizabeth Avila said her daughter, a freshman at Silver Creek High School in San Jose, signed on for her second math class of the academic year only to find her teacher shirtless, in violation of the dress code he himself had outlined just days earlier.
“She started feeling uncomfortable,” Avila said in a phone interview. “She couldn’t concentrate on the topic because all she was seeing was this old man on camera in her bedroom.”
The girl snapped a picture of the teacher and called her mother, who immediately contacted the school. Avila said she was told later that the teacher had been placed on administrative leave.
In an email, Superintendent Chris Funk said the person in the picture appeared to be a district employee. However, he declined to release any information about the employee.
“I will say that the behavior is unacceptable, unprofessional and violates several district policies,” Funk said.
“This situation is under investigation,” he continued. “In situations like this, an employee is immediately placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation.”
It wasn’t immediately clear if weather was a factor in the teacher’s decision to go topless. The mercury climbed to 103 degrees in San Jose on Friday, beating last year’s record of 98.
Avila said she was concerned that the teacher might engage in other problematic behavior.
“I was just glad that my daughter realized, ‘Hey, this isn’t right’ and said something,” Avila said.
“This should be one of those zero tolerance-type of things,” she continued. “He needs to be out. If he thinks this is OK, what more is going to happen later if we let it slide?”
Avila acknowledged that the COVID-19 pandemic has fundamentally changed the education system – scores of children like hers are now learning remotely – but some things are “common sense.”
“Be professional,” she said. “Put a shirt on.”
