Police are working with a south suburban high school to determine what happened when a teacher says she saw an inappropriate photo on a student's phone--but the pupil and his mother say the teacher is covering up for herself at his expense.
Perry Tyler says he often stays after class at Eisenhower High School in Blue Island to share sports stories with his English student teacher.
But Friday, he says, things got weird when he opened his phone to a football picture and handed it to her.
He said the teacher began scrolling through his photos without invitation to do so. He only intended for her to see the football picture they were talking about.
"She swiped through my pictures and saw an inappropriate picture," he said.
He says she was taken aback and he apologized.
Perry thought that was the end of it. But he and his mother explained to NBC 5 that was just the beginning. His mother, Chiquita McGhee, says school administration threatened expulsion after the teacher made a complaint a few hours later.
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“Our district does not comment on student discipline issues," school officials said in a statement. They said incidents are thoroughly investigated and appropriate consequences are assigned based on information gathered. The teacher could not be reached for comment.
"I feel like they’re trying to defame my son," Chiquita said.
Perry's worried he's missing too much school to keep up his grades, he said.
"I’m seeing new stuff and not knowing what to do with it," he said. "I’m so far behind I can't catch up before we get out next month for the semester."
Chiquita says she wants the incident taken off of her son's record.
Blue Island police say they’re investigating and getting conflicting stories. There’s nothing yet to determine that the student or the teacher did anything criminal, police said.
"I was the one that was violated," Perry argues.
