Teacher Suspended For Mocking Muslim Student: 'Are You Grieving Because Uncle bin Laden Died?'

FRIENDSWOOD, Texas (AP/THE BLAZE) -- A Southeast Texas teacher has been put on leave pending an investigation into an allegation that he made a racially insensitive comment to a Muslim student referencing the death of Osama bin Laden.

The teacher is accused of offending the American-born female student on Monday during a ninth grade algebra class at Clear Brook High School in Friendswood, located 23 miles southeast of Houston.

District spokeswoman Elaina Polsen did not return a message left by The Associated Press on Wednesday. In a statement to KTRK-TV of Houston, Polsen said the unidentified teacher asked the girl in front of the class if she was grieving because her "uncle" had died, referring to bin Laden.

KTRK has more:

A Friendswood mom says she was offended by what her daughter says happened Monday in ninth grade algebra.

She said, "The teacher told the student that 'I bet you're grieving.' And she basically looked at him and said what are you talking about? And he said I heard about your uncle's death and she said wow, because she understood that he was referring about Osama bin Laden being killed and was racially profiling her."

The remark was made to a classmate, an American-born girl of Muslim faith. It happened at Clear Brook High School in the Clear Creek Independent School District. The mom wanted to speak out about the incident but wanted us to protect her identity, saying she doesn't want any retaliation against her daughter or the girl who experienced the inappropriate comment.

The mother said, "The student ended up crying over what was said to her by the teacher and the teacher asked her why she was crying and another student said it was because of what you said earlier. And his response was, oh, OK, and just kind of smirked and giggled and walked away."