Teacher allegedly said 'hail Satan' to students while waving pitchfork over their heads. Now teacher is on leave.

A public high school teacher in Mesa, Arizona, is on paid administrative leave after allegedly donning devil horns and saying "hail Satan" to students while waving a pitchfork over their heads as they entered the classroom.

What are the details?

Sophomore Nathaniel Hamlet told KPNX-TV he walked into his Mesa High School class last Wednesday and noticed his teacher wearing devil horns and carrying a pitchfork.

Hamlet alleged to the station that his teacher proceeded to wave the pitchfork over students' heads as they entered the classroom and said "hail Satan" to them.

"Some people thought it was funny, some people didn't like it, some people were like 'whatever,' they just blew it off," Hamlet noted to KPNX.

But it got personal for Hamlet — a Christian — particularly when he said his teacher kept up the routine with him even after he told the teacher to stop, the station noted.

"I said, 'Don't do that to me,' and I pushed [the pitchfork] away, maybe three or four times, and he still said it and still did it," Hamlet recounted to KPNX.

Hamlet also told the station that his teacher even stretched the pitchfork in a backward motion toward him "and did it again" as he walked past the teacher and into the classroom.

Image source: YouTube screenshot

The sophomore then told his dad, Chris Hamlet — a former Mesa Public School board candidate — what happened, the station said. His dad then reported it to the Mesa High School principal, KPNX noted.

"I was livid because I am a Christian as well, obviously," Chris Hamlet told the station. “What really tipped it over for me is he kept telling him no, and the teacher kept persisting.”

Image source: YouTube screenshot

What happened next?

Nathaniel Hamlet told KPNX the teacher wasn't in the classroom the next day and hasn't been back since. He added to the station that he believes the teacher "should probably get fired" for doing the stunt "repeatedly to everyone."

Hamlet's father agrees, telling KPNX that even if it was a gag, what the teacher allegedly did wasn't appropriate: "If you're gonna keep the Christian stuff out, then you got to keep the devil-worshiping stuff out, period."

What did the teacher have to say?

The teacher on Tuesday told the station the outfit was for Halloween spirit week, adding that the theme was dynamic duos, and the teacher next door was wearing an angel costume.

"Participating in spirit weeks, like, this is a way for me to engage with my students and bring fun to my classroom," the teacher told KPNX. "It's truly not any more complicated than that."

What did the school district have to say?

A Mesa Public Schools spokesperson told the station that once it got word of what allegedly happened, the human resources department launched an investigation and "placed the teacher on paid administrative leave pending the result of the investigation. The investigation remains ongoing."

Other parents picking up their kids from school Monday told KPNX that while they don't agree with what the teacher did, firing the teacher may be taking things too far.

Anything else?

The station said Chris Hamlet posted the following on a Facebook post last month recruiting Republican precinct committeemen: "Evil is rampant within the Republican party as well; we need WARRIORS for CHRIST!!”

The station said Chris Hamlet ran for the Mesa Unified School Board in 2022 as an opponent of "indoctrination, hypersexualization, and grooming." KPNX added that "prominent far-right Republicans — state Sen. Wendy Rogers of Flagstaff and Congressman Paul Gosar of Bullhead City" — supported him. The station said Hamlet finished sixth in a seven-person field of candidates.

Mesa high school teacher on leave after students say he dressed as devilyoutu.be

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