05/18/10

From The Birmingham News

Jefferson County geometry teacher uses wrong example to teach angles --- assassination of President Barack Obama

By Marie Leech -- The Birmingham News

May 18, 2010, 6:30AM

and Carol Robinson --- The Birmingham News

A Jefferson County teacher picked the wrong example when he used assassinating President Barack Obama as a way to teach angles to his geometry students.

Someone alerted authorities and the Corner High School math teacher was questioned by the Secret Service, but was not taken into custody or charged with any crime.

"We did not find a credible threat," said Roy Sexton, special agent in charge of Birmingham's Secret Service office. "As far as the Secret Service is concerned, we looked into it, we talked to the gentleman and we have closed our investigation."


A Corner High geometry teacher picked the wrong example, President Barack Obama, to use in a lesson on angles. The lesson resulted in a Secret Service investigation. (AP)
Sexton said he generally doesn't discuss threat cases, but confirmed his office investigated the incident. No federal charges followed the probe.

The teacher was apparently teaching his geometry students about parallel lines and angles, officials said. He used the example of where to stand and aim if shooting Obama.

"He was talking about angles and said, 'If you're in this building, you would need to take this angle to shoot the president,' " said Joseph Brown, a senior in the geometry class.

Efforts to reach the teacher for comment Monday were unsuccessful. Superintendent Phil Hammonds said the teacher remains at work, and there are no plans for termination.

"We are going to have a long conversation with him about what's appropriate," Hammonds said. "It was extremely poor judgment on his part, and a poor choice of words."

Caroline Polk, the parent of a ninth-grader at the school, said she doesn't believe the teacher ought to be fired.

"We all make mistakes, and we should be able to learn from our mistakes," she said. "What he said was just wrong and inappropriate. Everyone's got their own opinions, but we have to be aware of our surroundings. At this point, it just needs to be handled in a way that it won't be repeated."

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Any knowledgeable right-wing extremist gun-nut could tell you that bullets do not travel in straight lines, especially in long-range sniper shots such as one that was apparently being described to take out obummer. Gravity would cause the bullet to drop with distance, and any cross-wind, however slight, would cause the bullet to curve left or right in flight. The marksman would have had to compute the distance to impact and calculate the amount of drop and windage to add to his aiming solution. Not a plane geometry problem, but a complex trigonometry problem.

This teacher should go back to teaching communism and homosexuality and not vary from the government approved lesson-plan. If he demonstrates again that he is unable to teach, he should be dismissed from the teacher's union and promoted to principal.