Arriving with a karaoke machine and disco lights, a teacher made quite the impression on his first (and last) day at an Austin high school.
After surprising his students with a bizarre karaoke rendition of Toxic by Britney Spears, this unidentified substitute teacher was reportedly dismissed from his duties shortly after first period at Austin’s Bowie High School on Friday.
The teacher wasn’t fired because the song is potentially inappropriate, but simply because that’s a pretty strange thing to do.
The puzzling performance was recorded by a student who watched in confusion as the teacher belted the lyrics of Britney’s iconic 2003 pop anthem, while multicoloured lights flashed around him.
It should be noted that he wasn’t teaching music.
“With a taste of a poison paradise, I’m addicted to you. Don’t you know that you’re toxic?” he sang from behind his desk, as an instrumental of Spears’ Toxic blared from the speakers.
Shortly after his performance, the sub was “relieved of duty” as he “wasn’t following [the district’s] best practices” according to an Austin Independent School District representative who spoke to NBC news outlet KXAN.
“I’ve heard worse Britney Spears covers, but the lights are a bit much,” said the representative.
After seeing his son’s recording, the student’s dad, Andre Abelkis, was just as confused as the rest of us.
He told the New York Post, “We didn’t know what this was all about until our son explained what it was. 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.”
Since his dismissal, the sub has reportedly taken a job at another local high school. Who knows what song is up next on the karaoke request list.
