CLAYTON COUNTY, Ga. -- A local teacher was arrested on suspicion of putting a hit on one of his students.

Randolph Forde, a 10th-grade teacher at Mundy’s Mill High School in Clayton County, is accused of trying to persuade another student to kill a 16-year-old boy.

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Teacher Accused Of Putting Hit On Student

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Forde was charged after, officers said, he held up a piece of paper with the alleged victim’s name on it saying he had a hit on him. The student’s mother said her son came home frightened when he found out.

“He says, ‘Ma, you’re not going to believe this but Mr. Forde offered another student money to kill me,’” said mother Marcia Killebrew.

Killebrew told Channel 2 Action News reporter Tom Jones that she was shocked when her 16-year-old son told her his substitute math teacher at Mundy’s Mill High School was trying to hire a hit man to kill him.

“I was extremely upset. I called the school at that moment,” said Killebrew.

Killebrew’s attorney said the incident began when Forde called the student out of the classroom one day.

“(Forde) asked him if he was gay,” said attorney Terrance Madden.

Madden said the student became angry at the suggestion and the next day the two had a verbal altercation.

Weeks later, police said, Forde got a Mundy’s Mill student off a school bus and told him he had a hit on someone and needed him to take care of it. Officers said the student asked who it was and Forde said he would let him know.

“The teacher held a piece of paper up with the victim’s name on it,” said Otis Willis III of the Clayton County Police Department.

Forde was arrested and faces making terroristic threats charges. He could lose his job.

His attorney told Jones that Forde was joking and never gave anyone a name.

“How does an authority figure in a school joke with a child?” said Killebrew.

Killebrew’s attorney said the student reported Forde’s questions about his sexuality and the altercation at the time they occurred but Forde remained in the classroom.

“Something should have been done at that time,” said Madden.

Forde’s attorney said the whole incident was blown out of proportion.

A personnel hearing is scheduled for Tuesday. He is currently on paid administrative leave.