School employee removed after students were burned while doing ‘bear crawls’ on hot track, district says

WOODVILLE, Texas (Gray News) – A staff member at a middle school in Texas has been “removed” after allegedly telling students to “bear crawl” on a hot track.

The Woodville Independent School District confirmed the incident happened during a “pre-athletics class” Monday at Woodville Middle School. It’s unclear what position the staff member held at the school.

According to a statement from the district, the students participated in an exercise program promoted on social media that involves bear crawling on the track.

Due to the temperature of the track, several students suffered burns and blisters on their hands and knees, KHOU reported.

One parent said her son and his classmates were given the choice of either doing a “TikTok challenge” involving bear crawling on the track or other workouts.

The students chose the bear crawl challenge, but the track was hot enough that it burned several students’ hands and knees.

It’s unclear how far the students were told to bear crawl, and it’s also unclear if the staff member allowed them to stop once they were hurt.

The district did not specify exactly how many students were injured.

The district said the employee’s actions “do not reflect the values or expectations of Woodville ISD.”

The employee has been “removed from campus and will not be returning to the district,” the statement said.

According to KHOU, the person involved had previously resigned – not because of this incident – and the last day of the school year was going to be his last day as an employee. He was told, however, not to come back to campus for the remainder of the school year after the incident.

Woodville police are looking into the incident, chief Mike McCulley told KHOU.