Schools

Fired Teacher Wants Job Back

Christopher Poston says 'Jackass' movie had educational value.

The Wando High School teacher fired last week for showing a lewd R-rated movie to students has taken the first steps to getting his job back.

Christopher Poston on Thursday filed an appeal to the Charleston County School Board asking for his employment to be reinstated.

He also publicly apologized to the community and condoned any bullying directed at the student whose mother brought the movie to the attention of Wando administrators.

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“I just want to apologize to those kids,” Poston told reporters on Thursday. “I didn’t mean any harm. What I did was inexcusable, and the little girl that was being bullied; I just don’t condone bullying.”

Patch was the first to report the Poston story. Read full coverage.

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Poston was placed on administrative leave in mid-February after he admitted to school officials that he showed scenes from “Jackass Number 2” to a class in which he was substituting. The movie showed an actor placing his puppet-covered penis into a cage with a snake.

The “Jackass” series of TV shows and movies are notorious for dangerous and sometimes lewd comedy skits. Poston said in his appeal that he had only seen the Jackass TV shows and was unaware of the potential for the movie to become sexual in nature.

The school board decided last week to terminate Poston. Since he is now appealing that decision, his pay and benefits will be restored, according to the Post and Courier.

Poston, a sociology teacher, cites his numerous contributions to the community and to the school in his appeal. He also explains that he showed the movie because he believed it had sociological value.

He was filling in for a Latin teacher when the movie incident occurred, according to his appeal. He said the conversation deviated from Latin to sociology, and he began showing the movie as an example of violating societal norms, a topic he was discussing in class at the time.


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