Texas Teacher Captured On Video Telling Students To Call Pedophiles 'Minor Attracted Persons'

An English teacher in El Paso, Texas, faces termination after telling students to call pedophiles "minor attracted persons" during a class.

The teacher, identified by the El Paso Teachers Association as Amber Parker, was placed on administrative leave following the incident, NBC News reported, citing El Paso's school district.

The moment was captured on video and shared on social media. In the 18-second clip, the Franklin High School teacher can be heard telling students to "stop calling them that. You're not allowed to label people like that," according to the outlet.

"We're not going to call them that," the teacher is heard saying in the video. "We're going to call them MAPs, minor attracted persons. So don't judge people just because they want to have sex with a 5-year-old."

Parker is "not legally allowed to comment at this time," she told NBC News. Franklin High School did not immediately respond to the outlet's request for comment.

It remains unknown what led to Parker's remarks or what the context of the exchange was.

The school district was made aware of the issue early last week. An investigation into the matter was immediately launched Tuesday, according to spokesperson Liza Rodriguez.

"After a thorough investigation was conducted, on September 6, 2022, during a Special Board Meeting, the Board of Trustees approved a decision to notify a Franklin High School teacher of proposed termination," she said, according to the outlet. "Any allegation of potential misconduct is investigated thoroughly, and the safety of our students is a top priority."

The school district said it would not disclose the findings of its investigation or any other information due to the incident being a "personnel matter."

Termination procedures against the teacher were initiated after the board of trustees unanimously voted for the action.

Parker is now on paid administrative leave pending termination, according to Rodriguez.

The board's vice president, Daniel Call, said he initially believed that the classroom exchange was taken out of context.

But he said his opinion changed after he learned about the findings of the school district's investigation Tuesday, though he did not detail what exactly led to him changing his mind about the incident.

"Initially I was shocked and horrified when I saw the video," Call told NBC News. "Then when I heard that she was trying to be sarcastic, I felt bad for her. However, when the district's investigation into this situation helped me understand the full story, I have no doubt that terminating this teacher is the right thing to do. Any reasonable person that heard the results of the investigation would vote to terminate her."