DEPTFORD, N.J. -- A New Jersey teacher faces discipline after being recorded telling a special-needs student that he was a "tard" and responding sarcastically to the student's pleas not to be called "special."
The Gloucester County Special Services District board reviewed the student's accusations of harassment, intimidation and bullying and placed the teacher on paid administrative leave Wednesday, Superintendent Michael Dicken said. He would not say what discipline the instructor could face.
The parents told ABCNews.com, which was first to report the case, that their 15-year-old son had been bullied before by the teacher. They urged him to use his cellphone to record video if the instructor did it again.
The district didn't identify the teacher. The man identified by the family as the teacher at the Bankbridge Regional School didn't respond to an email seeking comment, and the district would not provide a home phone number for him.
The student has attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and emotional issues, his parents said.
The video shows him repeatedly asking the teacher to stop calling him "special."
"What does the title on the front of that school say? `Special education,"' the teacher says in one instance.
In another instance, the teacher uses a pejorative derived from word retarded, telling the student: "Tard, you want me to call you normal, and you don't even know what it is."
At one point the teacher can also be heard threatening to beat up the student "from here to kingdom come."
The superintendent said, "The actions depicted on the video do not reflect the mission or culture of our school."
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