A Chardon middle school teacher who says he jokingly told a student to "go back to your country" has been suspended.
District officials say science teacher Steve Patterson has a history of making inappropriate comments to students. The suspension comes after a student in November corrected the teacher for mispronouncing her name and he responded by saying "go back to your country." Patterson told school officials he was joking. A resolution approved by the school board this month says a student a year ago asked if Patterson was a dictator like Adolf Hitler. The board says he responded by saying "if I was Hitler, does that mean I put you in an oven?"