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A substitute teacher at J.H. Rose High School in Greenville, North Carolina says he was confronted while using the staff restroom by a fellow teacher who stood behind him and demanded to know who he was. The encounter, captured on video and shared widely on social media, shows the other teacher bluntly saying, “I don’t know who you are” while the substitute was at a urinal. This kind of invasive behavior should be unthinkable in any workplace, let alone a school where adults are supposed to model basic decency and common sense.
The substitute posted the footage to TikTok under the handle that identified him, and additional clips show the tense meeting that followed with the principal and staff. Rather than addressing the invasion of privacy, the principal dismissed the substitute for the day, reportedly telling him he was sent home “for the sake of peace.” Parents and taxpayers should be alarmed that administrators are choosing expediency over principle when staff misconduct is on full display.
Viewers online overwhelmingly sided with the substitute, pointing out that if staff truly feared a non-staff adult in the bathroom they should have immediately exited the space instead of hovering behind someone. Those reactions are telling: ordinary Americans know common courtesy and privacy when they see it, and they see a school bureaucracy rewarding the wrong behavior. The viral outrage is not a pile-on, it is a mirror reflecting administrative priorities that put politicking and conflict avoidance above respect and safety.
This episode is emblematic of a deeper rot in our public institutions where optics and “comfort” seem to outrank clear rules and deterrence. If a teacher is genuinely unsure whether a person is staff or a student, there is a respectful and normal way to handle it: step out, ask in the hallway, check a lanyard or badge, or call for support. Hovering behind someone at a urinal is not policing, it is a breach of human dignity, and administrators who shrug it off are failing both staff and students.
Conservatives have warned for years that bureaucratic reflexes and a culture of avoiding confrontation produce perverse outcomes, and this is a small but infuriating example. The right response is not silence or sending the wronged party home to defuse outrage; it is accountability for unprofessional conduct and clear policies that protect privacy and decency. School leaders must remember that they are caretakers of children and stewards of taxpayer trust, not managers of public relations crises.
Parents and local officials should demand concrete fixes: enforce visible staff identification, train employees on professional boundaries, and discipline staff who violate basic privacy norms. If administrators continue to put politics, feelings, or appearances ahead of common sense and safety, voters should hold them to account at the school board and in budget decisions. America’s schools should stand for order, respect, and the rule of common decency — anything less is a betrayal of those who pay for and rely on them.
