A Brooklyn, Mich., teacher was reinstated with a promotion to varsity track coach last month despite an investigation that revealed he acted “carelessly and unprofessionally” by pranking a student death.

“I feel very let down by the school board,” the mother of the Columbia Junior High School student targeted by the prank told MLive. “I’m just beside myself on the whole thing.”

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Science teacher Jacob Boone hosted a memorial for the 14-year-old student on his classroom whiteboard in January, noting the student will be “forever missed” and encouraging the boy’s classmates to post “rest in peace” messages alongside his picture. There was also “funeral music” to mourn the child.

The fake memorial garnered about 50 messages from classmates: “I love you so much, forever missed,” one read. “He was a great student, but a better friend,” another student wrote.

The days-long prank eventually spread to social media, where a fake “news flash” announcing the alleged death drew offers of support for the “loss of a student” from another school district, according to WKFR.

But the student is alive, and it was a death in the family that prompted his prolonged absence.

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The boy’s mother told MLive she’s uncertain what convinced Boone to target her son, who is now forced to attend class in the counselor’s office.

“No parent wants to see a memorial of their child,” she said. “I just couldn’t believe that a teacher would think that was OK or that it was funny at all.”

Columbia School District officials investigated the stunt and Superintendent James Baker recommended his termination at the school board’s Feb. 12 meeting, citing a “lack of professional judgement.”

But board members Robert Wahr, Brian Knapp, Kyle Bamm, and Lindsey Schiel voted instead to keep Boone, opting instead to suspend the teacher without pay from Feb. 19 to April 1 for acting “carelessly and unprofessionally,” MLive reports.

Board members Crystal Buter, Roger Downey, and Jennifer Steele voted against the move.

By April 1, Boone was back in the classroom under a “last chance agreement” he negotiated during a closed board session at the Feb. 12 meeting. Then on April 8, the board voted 5-2 to appoint Boone varsity track coach, a promotion that comes with additional pay.

Buter, who voted against the appointment, told MLive the developments suggest some board members don’t take teacher discipline as seriously as they should.

“You’re rewarding him with a varsity track coach position, which I think is absurd and wrong,” she said. “That’s not anything to joke about. I think as a teacher, you’re an adult and you should know better.”

The student’s mother told MLive she doesn’t understand why her son is now being punished with isolation from the class in the wake of the teacher’s misconduct, and Columbia officials have opted to avoid questions about the matter.

“Baker, the superintendent, did not respond to requests for comment or to explain how the district handled the student’s removal from the class after the incident,” MLive reports. “Knapp, the board president, also did not respond to requests for comment.”

Boone, who came to the school from Maine in 2021 and received “highly effective” ratings on both of his yearly evaluations, will remain under the last chance agreement for the duration of his employment in Columbia schools.

That agreement stipulates that any additional substantiated misconduct will result in his immediate termination.