Community Rallies Behind Suspended Teacher

A Reeds Spring school board meeting gets heated Wednesday night after hundreds of people turned out to support a well respected and beloved teacher.

Mike Collins, an educator at reeds spring high school, was put on a paid leave after his supporters say was an incident with school bullies.  Collins was a teacher at Reeds Spring High School for 28 years. 

Many of his former students took part in Wednesday night's meeting, which was moved into a the high school’s gymnasium, to accommodate the huge crowd.  People created posters and displayed messages on their shirts to show their support.

Brandi Morey, a former student, says, "Mr. Collins was always one of my favorite teachers.  He was a science teacher; I'm a science major in college now.  He actually helped me get into the school that I'm in now.”

“He's a fantastic teacher.  He's a great inspiration. He's done so many things for the school with the recycling plant and the greenhouse and I just think it's a shame a school district would let a teacher go with that quality.” adds Shane Cook, another former student.

Jennifer Logan, a supporter of Mr. Collins, says, “He helped a lot of people.  He worked with special Ed kids.  He takes the time to show them how to do and without him what shape is the school going be in?"

Former students have also set up a website to show their support over the matter.   It says Collins used harsh language to warn two students about picking on fellow classmates who happen to be handicapped.

KOLR10 News spoke to Mike Roanhorse, a parent of one of the students involved in this incident.  He says, “He (Mr. Collins) made a bad decision, a very bad decision by doing this with the boys.  As adults you've got to be a little bit more than that.  We support Mr. Collins.   We don't want him to get fired, but we have to stick to what the board decides."

After the handful of supporter presented their feelings on Collins, board members voted to continue the rest of the meeting behind closed doors leaving angry supporters with many questions on the matter.

The school board is planning on holding a public hearing for Collins, but that date still has not been set.