Geometry teacher who used Obama assassination to teach angles placed on leave

A Jefferson County teacher who used as an example the shooting of President Barack Obama while teaching lines and angles to his geometry class has been placed on paid administrative leave and faces possible termination, Superintendent Phil Hammonds said.

Hammonds said his office has been flooded with phone calls from all over the nation since it was reported that Corner High School geometry teacher Gregory Harrison used the assassination example while teaching. The calls were mainly from people who were upset because the school district had taken no action against the teacher.

The teacher was questioned by Birmingham's Secret Service office, but was released without federal charges after officials there found he wasn't a viable threat to security.



Hammonds said the district has suffered great embarrassment by the teacher's "lack of judgment."

"As a district, we are embarrassed by his actions and what he said," Hammonds said. "There is nothing that can be said to rationalize what was said. We take this very seriously. There is no place in our society for a person to make these comments."

Hammonds said he will investigate the matter further, and will talk to students and teachers before recommending to the board what to do with the teacher. Hammonds said termination is a possibility.