DUNCANVILLE (CBS 11 NEWS) – A Duncanville High School teacher has been placed on leave with pay after a video taken in her classroom went viral.
Social studies teacher Julie Phung is not seen in the cell phone video, which appears to have been shot by another student and starts as sophomore Jeff Bliss is leaving the room.
As the 18 year old Bliss stands from his desk, he begins to tell the teacher how to do her job. “If you would just get up and teach them instead of handing them a freakin’ packet, yo. It’s kids in here that don’t learn like that. They need to learn face to face.”
For 90 seconds he rants about Phung’s teaching style, telling her she needs to take her job “serious” and criticizing
Phung is heard telling Bliss to “get out,” “please leave” and that he is “wasting her time.”
Duncanville ISD officials say the principal met with Bliss and Phung separately this morning.
Ms. Phung, according to district, has been placed on leave with pay, after her meeting. The district says that is standard protocol during an investigation. No action was taken against the student.
“I think most school districts will tell you it’s standard operating procedure whenever there’s any allegation of employee misconduct, that the staff member be placed on administrative leave, with pay pending the outcome of the investigation. We will go through that investigation and after we’ve gathered all the facts, then we will make a determination as to whether there was any misconduct or not,” said Dr. Alfred Ray, Duncanville ISD Superintendent.
Bliss who dropped out of school at one time, stands by the claims he made in the video. “This teacher is not looking to truly give us the education we’re looking for,” he said. “As a student, if we see a teacher slacking, not putting forth the effort, we should call them out.” Bliss thinks the current education system is failing its students and needs serious change.
The video of Bliss’ rant went viral within hours of being posted. “The average video on YouTube gets 8-10 views in a 24 hour period,” said social media expert Chris Kraft, with Addison-based Splash Media. “This video got 127,000 views in 18 hours. That’s seven thousand times the normal rate.”
Less than 24 hours after it was first posted online, the video had been seen about 450,000 times by people all over the country. According to Kraft, initial social media sentiment favored the student at a rate of 6 to 1, but by Thursday afternoon that ratio had dropped to 2 to 1.
Kraft suspects support has grown for the teacher as more adults have joined the conversation, but says the video is captivating audiences of all ages because it touches on a topic kids and adults can relate to: the state of the education system in this country.
“I think what really resonated was his speech. He’s passionate about it,” said Kraft.
Duncanville High students are split on the issue. Bliss says he’s been getting support from classmates who say he had a good message. Others don’t agree.
“All my teachers teach me everything I need to know, so I’m getting a good education,” said student Tiedrica Allen.
“He could have gone about it a different way. He could have stepped to the side with the teacher and not just made a class outburst,” said student Terrance Mitchell.
