Teacher fired for belting out ‘Toxic’ Britney Spears karaoke in class
By Hannah Frishberg
This teacher was expelled for his “Toxic” behavior.
A substitute teacher in Texas has been “relieved of duty” after bringing a karaoke machine to class — and giving kids an off-curriculum course in singing covers of pop icon Britney Spears, complete with a pulsing multicolored light show and deep echo vocal FX.
“With a taste of a poison paradise, I’m addicted to you. Don’t you know that you’re toxic?” the sub belts from behind his desk as the speakers pump out an instrumental of Spears’ smash 2003 anthem “Toxic.”
A confused student in the class at Austin’s Bowie High School recorded a covert video of the Friday performance, for which the teacher has since faced disciplinary action.
The sub was asked to leave immediately after the first-period presentation of his vocal abilities, as he “wasn’t following [the district’s] best practices” — but not before performing a second song, possibly a Lady Gaga number, an Austin Independent School District representative told local NBC news outlet KXAN.
The father of the boy who recorded the video (whose name and grade level are being kept under wraps for privacy reasons) said that the incident was indeed strange, but that he felt the school handled it correctly.
“It was all a bit confusing. We didn’t know what this was all about until our son explained what it was,” dad Andre Abelkis told The Post. “Yes, we were a little upset that a substitute teacher would not care about teaching the class and just do something for themselves. And, yes, I think the teacher should have been removed from class.”
While the station received a tip that the teacher, who has not been publicly identified, was a prankster who infiltrated the classroom and was only posing as a substitute — a crime for which he was reportedly arrested — AISD has confirmed that this is an inaccurate rumor. The substitute was a registered substitute placed on campus to cover a class and has not been arrested.
The teacher did not have a formal AISD badge, a representative noted, but received a background check and had been formally checked in through the school’s visitor system.
“I’ve heard worse Britney Spears covers, but the lights are a bit much,” an AISD spokesperson told the outlet, adding: “All processes were followed, it was simply a case of a substitute not following our practices.”
Following the Bowie High School incident, the sub took another job at Austin High School, the school district confirmed.
Reps for Spears did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment about her newfound impact on arts education.
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Originally Posted by perrhaps
