A public elementary school teacher in Saitama Prefecture told a fourth-grader to jump out of a classroom window last week, prompting the boy to avoid going to school, the local board of education said Tuesday.

The board quoted the homeroom teacher in his 40s as saying, “jump out the window” and “do not come here starting tomorrow.” The comments were made on Wednesday at Yamaguchi Elementary School in the city of Tokorozawa, the board said. The teacher also told the other students in the class that they could “have fun with 33 members starting tomorrow,” although the class actually has 34 students, it added.

The incident came to light after the mothers of other students in the class reported the comments to the school.

The board of education is considering disciplinary action for the teacher.

An investigation by the school has found that the teacher kicked the same boy in the back in April in an act of corporal punishment.

The teacher told the school that he made the remarks after a disturbance broke out in the classroom, the board said, adding that he admitted that his words were inappropriate and apologized to the boy and his guardians.

“It is truly regrettable. We will do our utmost to prevent similar incidents,” said Kazutaka Tanaka, chief of the board’s school education department.

Another elementary school teacher in the prefecture was penalized with a pay cut last month for inflicting corporal punishment on three students that left one of them with bruises.

In another recent incident, a teacher at a public elementary school in Osaka was suspended for three months for going to the home of one of his students at night while drunk and beating him.