The high school principal who pushed to suspend a 14-year-old autistic boy for running onto the field during halftime of a football game while wearing a banana man costume has resigned.
Karen Spillman lasted less than two months at Colonial Forge High School in Stafford, Va. The superintendent wouldn't say why Spillman is officially out.
Bryan Thompson became an Internet folk hero after he ended up in handcuffs in the back of a police car following his Sept. 16 stunt.
Fredricksburg.com reports the principal of the Virginia school sent a letter to Thompson's mother saying she was perturbed by Thompson's disrespectful actions to an administrator and his disruption of a school activity.
Thompson was given 10 days of suspension but only had to serve five.
Many felt the punishment didn't fit the so-called crime. The initial coverage of the story also started a discussion about autism. A parenting columnist in the Washington Post wrote: "Thompson's behavior might have been harmless, but the coverage has been another story, because it unnecessarily evoked autism for a stunt that any class clown could have pulled."
The ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union) got involved after the school attempted to keep students from wearing T-shirts supporting the "Banana Man." A few students were punished with Saturday detention for their wardrobe decision. That suspension has since been retracted.
Here's a video of the original report on the incident:
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