Nine male students were suspended from Bell Middle School for allegedly masturbating while looking at pornography on their cell phones during English class.
Students were suspended during the month of May, the district confirmed in an e-mail to NBC San Diego. But the email also states, the district is "prohibited from commenting on confidential student or personnel matters."
The teacher, Ed Johnson, is reportedly under fire because he did not respond to students who told him about the behavior while it was allegedly happening - only saying he would give students referrals if he caught them - then went on reading at his desk.
Following the incident, there are reports of controversy from the faculty over how the situation was handled by the teacher.
Students who knew about the suspensions told NBC San Diego that their behavior was "nasty" and "disgusting."
"It's crazy I don't even know I can't even believe it," one student told NBC San Diego.
The teachers union says the allegation the teacher did not follow through and take action is simply that - an allegation made by two students in the classroom.
"With respect to Mr. Johnson, all we can tell you is that he is employed by the District and remains assigned to Bell Middle School as of Friday," the district stated in an email. "His schedule has not changed."
He's my teacher but I'm in a different period, and he doesn't really do much about anything because he's not a good teacher," said another student to NBC San Diego. "He always reads. That's all we do in class is read you read with him no he reads and we listen."
The principal of the South Bay school is not commenting and said the teacher is not talking about the situation.
I once brought a lewd picture that I had drawn to class and showed it around.
The teacher kept me after a few minutes and talked with me about it. I never did it again.
I was pissed at the girls who were getting all womanly but acting all coy and unavailable to the boys. When you're a kid, who do you talk to about something like that who is adult enough to keep a level head about it and just let you speak your mind?
That's what it takes to resolve situations like this, not suspensions. God only knows what is going on with those boys. If their environment does not foster free and frank communication in at least SOME context, then they are going to go through life thinking their only alternative is to keep everything to themselves. And their lack of willingness to communicate will eventually ruin them.
We need to get smart about this pretty quick. We don't need any more kids growing up to be criminals than we already have.