NEW YORK – A New York City charter school teacher could face disciplinary action this week after he jokingly texted his wife to call in a bomb threat during a boring staff meeting, and she followed through.



The employee at Renaissance Charter High School for Innovation in East Harlem, identified only as Eric, reportedly texted his wife to “call in a bomb threat during” the school’s dull morning staff meeting last week, and followed up with a test “haha,” but his wife didn’t see the second message until after she called police, the New York Post reports.

“She called the cops, reporting a bomb threat at the school, which shares a building with three other charter schools at 410 E. 100th St., police sources said,” according to the news site.

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The woman immediately called back when she realized the mix-up, but eight uniformed officers went to check out the report, anyway.

“They tell us that a bomb threat has been called in,” Renaissance executive director Falla Riff told the Post. “We hadn’t heard anything about that.”

“It was meant to be a joke,” he said. “It was misconstrued, and, boy, oh, boy, before we knew it, there were cops here,” he said.

Police questioned Eric for a while before leaving without searching the school or arresting the teacher, the Daily Mail reports.

“The NYPD was satisfied it was a joke,” Riff told the news site. “If they thought there was any doubt whatsoever, my guess is that he would be in cuffs right now.”

Riff said school officials are expected to decide today whether Eric will face disciplinary action for the embarrassing episode.

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“We’re really committed to due process,” Riff said. “Any outcome will be based on the facts.”

Many who read the news online were quick to poke fun at the teacher’s misfortune.

“Good thing he didn’t start out with the normal, ‘Just shoot me!’” bannie from Bakersfield posted to the Daily Mail.

“What ever happened to ‘I have a headache?’” questioned Petunia from Timbuktu.

Others thought the whole incident was no big deal.

“It sounds like a simple misunderstanding,” Jimbone, from Washington D.C., posted. “No need to prosecute someone for something like this.”