Georgia teacher stripped of award after student runs in rain

ATLANTA – A gym teacher named Teacher of the Year by his colleagues has been stripped of the title.

WSB-TV reports that educators at Henderson Mill Elementary School in metro Atlanta voted physical education teacher James O’Donnell their teacher of the year. But DeKalb County Schools Superintendent Steve Green said O’Donnell doesn’t meet the requirements, because he was suspended last November.

O’Donnell returned to work in February under a legal agreement, even though the school’s new principal didn’t want him back, and his colleagues honoured him in March.

At issue was his discipline of a 10-year-old who was acting up; O’Donnell made him stand outside the door. Instead, the boy ran out in the rain, arriving to his next class wet and cold, and O’Donnell was accused of endangering the child.