Teacher Calls Bible a 'Hate Crime'

A Wake County middle school teacher has been suspended following complaints about disparaging comments she made about her class, Christianity and Southern culture on her Facebook page.

Melissa Hussain, an eighth-grade teacher at West Lake Middle School in Apex, wrote on her Facebook page that it was a “hate crime” that students left a Bible on her desk and how she “was able to shame her kids” over the incident. Her Facebook page included comments from friends saying that the parents of Hussain’s students were “bigoted, stupid and uncaring.”

Some parents were angry that she was allowed to stay in the classroom, leading them to complain to school board members on Friday. Hussain was later told to leave her classroom on Friday and is not back at the school.

Greg Thomas, a Wake schools’ spokesman, said Hussain has been suspended with pay. But he said he couldn’t discuss the reason for the suspension because of employee confidentiality rules. School administrators say they are still investigating the situation.