COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — A South Carolina mother is upset after a teacher told her daughter to commit suicide for complaining about an earache.

Shandi Wallace tells local media Thursday her 8-year-old daughter has been a student at Montessori School of Columbia. When her daughter said her ear was hurting, Wallace says a teacher told her, “Commit suicide. Then it won’t hurt.”

Wallace says other students confirmed hearing the comment, which upset her third-grade daughter. Head of School Karen Kuse said in a statement the teacher’s behavior was “inappropriate and insensitive” and that he had been asked to stay home.

Kuse said the teacher said he was joking but agreed he had used poor judgment.

Wallace says she has pulled her children from the school.