A high school history teacher has been suspended after a video showing him ‘inappropriately’ touching a female student emerged online.
In the video, filmed on Monday, Travis Holland can be seen rubbing his hand up and down the back of a teenage girl in a classroom at Eagleville High School.
The clip has since gone viral, via Fox17:
The video then seems to show the Illinois teacher’s hand slowly move down towards her lower back, then across to her waist.
The teacher, who is also the baseball coach at Eagleville High School has since been suspended without pay, after the video was brought to the attention of the Rutherford County School District, officials have said.
However, the student’s parents have spoken out to explain Holland was comforting their daughter after a family bereavement.
Meanwhile, a concerned parent of another child at Eagleville claimed a number of students have previously filed complaints against Holland, citing instances of inappropriate touching to Fox17.
Law enforcement and the Department of Children’s Services in the RCSD’s probe of the incident, but both bodies decline to investigate further.
The RCSD’s investigation remains ongoing and Holland will remain suspended until it concludes.
The school system said in a statement:
We were notified of the video and did an initial review, but then deferred to law enforcement and DCS for their review. We have now heard back from both agencies and they are not pursuing any further investigation.
However, the school district has suspended the employee without pay pending the outcome of a district investigation.
After the video surfaced, social media users were quick to voice their outrage at the actions of Holland, insisting his alleged gesture to console the teenage student was inappropriate.
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A former emo kid who talks too much about 8Chan meme culture, the Kardashian Klan, and how her smartphone is probably killing her. Francesca is a Cardiff University Journalism Masters grad who has done words for BBC, ELLE, The Debrief, DAZED, an art magazine you’ve never heard of and a feminist zine which never went to print.