Hansen was fired from the coaching job and suspended, with pay, from the teaching position, after an incident that happened on June 3rd in a high school classroom. A video that was widely circulated on social media in June showed Hansen jumping through a stack of textbooks.

School officials say that this is inappropriate behavior for a teacher, and that it was destruction of school property. That video has since been removed from the Internet. Numerous current and former students spoke to the Escanaba School Board last night, asking that Hansen be reinstated.

"As someone who has known Mr. Hansen as a student, player, and fellow coach, I can vouch for his leadership and his dedication to the task at hand," Escanaba High School graduate Alex DeHaan told the school board Monday night. "He is someone who takes great pride in wearing the Orange and Black. "

Hansen has been the varsity football coach for the past three years, and has been a teacher in the district for the past nine years. "He is definitely a role model to me," Escanaba High School student Alexia Nelson told Local Three News Monday night. "He's definitely someone I want to see every day for the rest of my high school career."

And what about the June 3rd incident, when Hansen jumped through the text books? "I think that he was doing something to help the kids get motivated because it was the last day of school," Escanaba graduate Rachel Bugay told Local Three News. "You want to blow off a little steam and it was a harmless little thing. To get rid of a teacher who is so passionate is just ridiculous."

The school board voted, 7-to-nothing, to continue the tenure charges against Hansen. The case will now go before a state administrative law judge. The district's lawyer spoke during the meeting via telephone, and Hansen's lawyer made a brief statement in person, saying that the punishment for the incident was too severe. As for Hansen himself, he wept through much of the 90-minute-long hearing, as he heard people speak on his behalf. Hansen did not speak at the special meeting.

I started this petition in hopes that the school board will see the impact he has had on both the students and families, and at the very least, to show Hansen that there are many people who love and support him regardless of the outcome.

You can watch the video at http://video-static.clipsyndicate.com/zStorage/syndicaster2/280/2015/07/21/03/32/55adbd02a69d.mp4?co_id=1081

** UPDATE **

A new statement has been released from Board President Cathy J. Wilson involving the case. You can view that statement at the following link. Please note, people who attended the meeting stated that only this specific incident was brought up, with other charges attached to it. The charges were later dismissed hearsay. However, in all fairness, here it is.

https://drive.google.com/a/gladstone.k12.mi.us/file/d/0B8ME_Kv29KmWd0pEZ2d6VjhsNFE/view?pli=1