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GREENSBORO — One teacher resigned and one was suspended from Guilford County schools this week after behavior that Superintendent Terry Grier called unjustifiable.

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"You certainly expect more from people in the teaching profession," Grier said. "They may be under great pressure, but that does not justify that type of behavior in my mind."

Smith High School music teacher Evelyn Fair was suspended without pay, according to Guilford County School officials, after a Nov. 8 incident in which she insulted and cursed at students who complained about their conduct grades.

In another incident on Tuesday, teacher Robert Lee Bullard resigned after a fight with a student in his classroom at Dudley High School.

School board member Deena Hayes, who represents the Smith area, said Fair's outburst was recorded on a student's cell phone.

"I talk to your parents, I do referrals for your (expletive), I write (expletive) up for you. (Expletive) this!" Fair was recorded telling the class. "I do all this crap cause I love you and I care about you, and you're going to treat me like this? No! Absolutely not!"

Fair, who is white, then began lecturing the students at the predominantly black high school for their "ghetto attitude."

"You want to get ghetto. I'll go ghetto," Fair said. "You want to see hard? I'll get in touch with everyone of your mamas and daddies, and we will get hard!"

Grier said he had not yet heard the recording late Thursday, but the district's personnel department is investigating the incident.

"We do not condone that type of language in our teachers," Grier said. "The whole situation is very unfortunate."

Police spokesman Lt. Brian Cheek said the fight at Dudley was broken up by other students, and Bullard has not been charged with any criminal offenses.

Neither the first-year social studies teacher nor the 14-year-old freshman returned to class or sought medical treatment after the fight, Cheek said.

Police and Guilford County Schools would not release the student's name Thursday.

Dudley's school resource officer, M.J. Harris, was still conducting interviews with students, so the complete details of the fight were not clear to police Thursday, Cheek said.

Bullard, 59, declined to comment at his home Thursday.

Phone messages left for Dudley administrators were not returned Thursday.

Grier said the two incidents should not be seen as the norm for Guilford County teachers.

"We've got close to 5,000 teachers in our district, and we've got two teachers who behaved badly this week," Grier said. "They're unfortunate events, and as an organization we certainly apologize to the student and the parents of the students who were affected."

Contact Sonja Elmquist at 373-7090 or selmquist@news-record.com

Contact Joe Killian at 883-4422, Ext. 228, or jkillian@news-record.com