A TEACHER has appealed his sacking for continued use of "sarcasm and demeaning humour with his young pupils.

Robert Fine, a general science teacher at a middle school, was dismissed on October 5 by the Pasco County School Board in Florida.

School superintendent Heather Fiorentino said in her termination letter that Fine, 65, had been involved in incidents for the past four years. Despite being reprimanded, Fine continued using "sarcasm and demeaning humour” when interacting with students, website The Smoking Gun reported

Ms Fiorentino cited the following incidents in the classroom:

FINE told one female pupil, “Honey, you look bad every day. Pages will be turning in the yearbook and mirrors will be smashing.”

HE suggested to a girl who had a bout of hiccups, that she “go into the restroom and look into the mirror and ‘scare’ the hiccups away.”

A MALE student called out in class when a female student was unable to answer a question Fine had asked.He then responded by telling the girl that she was a “great ventriloquist,” noting that, “I asked you a question and you made the answer come out of the dummy in the back.”

Fine defended himself in a meeting with school bosses as an “equal opportunity picker-oner” whose own wife had to remind him to “stop tailgating the students.”

Fine said that he used sarcasm and humor to build rapport with students but school administrators said that his classroom behavior “led to a significant number of parents requesting that their children be moved” from his class.

Fine has appealed his termination and is scheduled for a November 6 hearing before the Pasco County school board.