A Mira Mesa High School Math teacher reportedly told his principal he was shopping for his wife when he got caught surfing for lingerie during class.
RELATED: Mira Mesa teacher caught looking at lingerie in class
Paul Swanson didn't realize his laptop was still connected to the classroom's projector Friday during class. He was looking at lingerie on Ebay when it was projected for the whole class to see. Some of his students recorded him with their cellphones.
"You would think somebody would come up after the class, somebody would have laughed, someone would have said hey Mr. Swanson," said Bob Turner, who is the Vice President of a parent teacher organization at Mira Mesa High School.
No one said a word to the teacher. That was Friday. By the weekend, the video had blown up on social media around the world.
"The teacher found out when the principal called him into the office. He had no idea. It's kind of ironic to me that none of the students would have told him," said Turner.
Parents like Sabrina Bazzo worry that the actions of one teacher could affect the entire school.
"My concern is now, because of this one incident that the district might say, 'Oh, you can't use the Internet anymore,' or they'll limit it so much that a lot of teachers who use it in a very appropriate way are not going to be able to use it all," said Bazzo who is also the Mira Mesa High School Foundation President.
Bazzo and Turner don't think the veteran teacher should lose his job, but they aren't sure he should return to Mira Mesa High School.
"I feel like now if he did come back to the school, there's such a sense of animosity towards him just within our community," said Bazzo.
"I believe the teacher, probably should, for what it was, be allowed to come back. Do I think he should come back to Mira Mesa? Probably not," said Turner.
They also believe criticism of the school and the principal has been unfair.
"I think the school and the principal getting hammered by somebody on your report was kind of misleading," said Turner.
He's referring to another parent; Catherine Castillo. She blasted the principal for not notifying the parents about the situation sooner. She also questioned the school's security filters on its computers.
"A more educated parent would realize it's not the school's fault. I think there's 100 teachers there, it's not the 100 teachers, it's one dumb teacher, one teacher made a dumb mistake, you can be sure those other teachers are ticked off at him and all of us parents because he basically put a microscope on them also," said Turner.
"I know what a great place it is and how much people care about the community and want to give back and these teachers work so hard and that principal is there every night," said Bazzo.
Swanson remains on paid leave while the district investigates.
