FORT BEND COUNTY- A family in Fort Bend County is demanding that a First Colony Middle School teacher be fired after they say she called a 7th grade student a terrorist.

12-year-old Waleed Abushaaban is an honor student and says he has no idea why his teacher called him a terrorist in front of his whole class on Thursday.

“Were in the class watching a movie,” explained Waleed, “and I was just laughing at the movie and the teacher said, ‘I wouldn’t be laughing if I was you.’ And I said why? She said, ‘because we all think you’re a terrorist.”

Waleed says the class was watching Bend it Like Beckham after their STAAR tests and that after that comment other students started making fun of him.

“They were like, ‘oh I see a bomb!’ and they started all laughing and making jokes. I was upset and I felt like I was put in the corner and like everybody was just looking at me.“

Fort Bend ISD has removed the English and Language Arts teacher from the classroom while it investigates; however, Quanell X and Waleed’s family want her permanently dismissed.

“No religion should be targeted by and disrespected by any administrator on any school campus,” said Quanell X.

“Just because my son is a Muslim doesn’t mean he is a terrorist,” added Malek Abushaaban. “He’s an American. He’s as American as anybody else. He was born here… that’s all he knows is how to be an American.

The Abushaaban family says Waleed will stay enrolled at First Colony Middle School and in addition to firing the teacher in question, would like religious sensitivity training for both students and teachers.

The school released the following statement following the incident. 

“The District does not support the teacher’s actions, and when school administrators learned of the incident, they immediately removed the teacher from the classroom and placed her on administrative leave pending completion of the District’s review of this matter. “

While the teacher reports her statements were made in the context of trying to make a point about negative stereotypes,  District officials do not believe that the teacher exercised the appropriate sensitivity expected of the District’s educators, and do not believe that the statements were made in a manner that is in keeping with the District’s Core Beliefs and Commitments.”