Photo: TikTok
It was highly disrespectful.
By Nia Tipton — Written on Dec 15, 2022
A teacher in Florida was fired after a viral video showed her interrupting Muslim students while they were praying.
The TikTok video, which was posted on December 8, showed three students at Franklin Academy Charter School in Pembroke Pines taking part in worship.
While the students are praying, a door can be heard opening before the teacher — who has not been publicly identified — bulldozes inside.
The teacher accused the Muslim students of performing "magic," as she interrupted their prayer.
As the teacher enters the room, she loudly states: "Hold on, this is my office and y'all doing this magic."
She then blows a whistle in an attempt to get the students' attention, before walking directly through their prayer and even steps directly on one of the student's hands.
"I believe in Jesus, so I'm interrupting the floor," she tells them.
She asks them once more, "And why are they in my office? Who told them to come in here?" Despite the interruption, the students completely ignore the teacher as they continue their prayer.
In the background, an adult can be heard telling the teacher, "They're praying."
In Muslim culture, the five daily Islamic prayers are extremely sacred, and once started, should not be disrupted by others or those involved in the praying.
During the sacred prayers, Muslims must keep their heads bowed and prostrate a number of times, depending on the prayer and which time of day it falls under.
The teacher was promptly fired by the school following the incident in the video.
In response to the viral video and heavy backlash, Franklin Academy released a statement saying they've been made aware of a "very troubling TikTok video."
"While we do not discuss personnel matters, we can share that the teacher in question is no longer a member of the Franklin Academy staff," the statement read.
In a follow-up statement posted on Facebook, the school attempted to dispel rumors after one of its teachers was falsely accused of being in the video.
"It is important to remind everyone that [this teacher] has been mistakenly and falsely identified in the comments of many social media posts," the school wrote, urging their community to stop the spread of "misinformation."
The Florida chapter of the Council on American-Islamic (CAIR-Florida), praised Franklin Academy for their response and actions.
The statement read: "It is of utmost importance that school administrators and staff know basic faith practices to serve students practicing their faith, in this case, Muslims."
"We will protect our children. We welcome the prompt response from the school administration."
Their statement also included a study released in August 2022 by the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding.
In the study, it showed the nearly half of Muslim families have a school-aged child who "faced religious-based bullying" in 2022.
Nia Tipton is a writer living in Brooklyn. She covers pop culture, social justice issues, and trending topics. Keep up with her on Instagram and Twitter.