‘I Believe In Jesus’: Florida Educator Fired After Caught on Video Disrupting Muslim Students Amid Prayer

A Florida charter school teacher was fired after a video of her intentionally interrupting Muslim students while in prayer went viral across social media, Local 10 News reported.

“I believe in Jesus so I’m interrupting the floor,” said the former Franklin Academy educator before crossing the students’ prayer mats, stepping over their hands, and blowing a whistle.

A viral video showing the string of events was posted on TikTok Wednesday and racked up over 7 million views before being reposted to Twitter on Thursday.

Two students were captured on camera reciting an Islamic prayer in Arabic while gentle music played in the background. Seconds later, a teacher barged in and was seemingly in shock when she discovered that the students were in her office. In fury, she accused them of practicing magic.

“Hold on, this is in my office, and y’all doing this magic?” she hollered.

https://www.tiktok.com/@gawpu/video/7174602080307399979?is_copy_url=1&is_from_webapp=v1&refer=embed

The pair of students appeared to remain calm. One student had to readjust himself on his mat while the teacher appeared to step on or kick his hand.

“Who told them to come in here?” the teacher can be heard asking another person.

The user who posted the video, dubbed @gawpu, wrote in the caption, “I literally don’t even believe what happened to me is real.”

A flood of comments criticized the teacher’s actions and wanted to know more about the story.

“To clear up, we asked two teachers if we can go pray and they allowed us into the room that we were in, everything was fine untill she walked in,” the user explained in the comments.

In response, the Franklin Academy administration released a statement to Local 10 News, saying that after seeing the “very troubling video,” an investigation had been initiated.

“While we do not discuss personnel matters, we can share with you that the teacher in question is no longer a member of the Franklin Academy staff,” the charter school shared.

“Franklin Academy does not tolerate discriminatory behavior. As many know, we are an International Baccalaureate (IB) school system, and as part of the IB initiatives to which we are committed, Franklin aims to develop inquiring, knowledgeable and caring young people who help to create a better and more peaceful world through intercultural and racial understanding and respect. We not only look for our student body to develop these traits but for our faculty and staff to exemplify them as well.”