'First kiss' conversation between teacher, students leaves parents stunned

ATLANTA — Many parents are speechless after hearing what they said was inappropriate talk in a conversation recorded inside the classroom of a Spanish teacher at Ralph Bunche Middle School.

One of the concerned parents sent video of the teacher talking about kissing and divorce to Channel 2's Alyssa Hyman.

"When you're in love the first time -- that first kiss is -- oh, there's nothing like it. And when you touch her hair and the back of her neck and you pull her close and then you start to go for other parts," the teacher identified as Berkerley Davenport says in part of the video.

Atlanta Public Schools said Davenport was immediately removed from the classroom and has since resigned after the incident was reported to the Office of Employee Relations.

But parents are worried there is nothing stopping the teacher from moving on to another school district.

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"I mean, that's totally inappropriate for you to be talking in that context in Spanish (class)," one parent said.

Another parent told Channel 2 Action News a conversation of that type should occur between a parent and a child rather than a teacher and his students.

Hyman tracked Davenport down at his home. He told her he had been reading a poem that was taken out of context. He said he had been explaining metaphors.

"When you take stuff out of context like that, it's a bad name for teachers who would want to work with a system that is not going to support you. I don't have any hard feelings, but I think I'm a great teacher," Davenport said.

APS said it plans to report the issue to the Georgia Professional Standards Commission. A spokesperson for the commission, however, said there is no report in the system yet.

Cox Media Group