High School Principal Placed on Leave After Dancing with Mascot at School Rally, One Father Says ‘It Was All Weird’ (Exclusive)
“For all I know, he’s a great guy, but at the same time, it doesn’t make it any less weird,” Ryan Attebery, the father who shared the video, exclusively tells PEOPLE
One high school principal has been placed on administrative leave for conducting an inappropriate dance during a back-to-school rally in Atwater, Calif., on Friday, Aug. 16, Merced Union High School District confirms with PEOPLE.
On Monday, Aug. 19, Buhach Colony High School principal Robert Nunes was put on leave by the Merced Union High School District after a video of the Friday incident circulated, documenting him dancing with the school mascot Thor. Atwater, Calif., is 120 miles east of San Francisco.
Ryan Attebery, father of a 14-year-old son at the school, shared his son’s video to his own Facebook profile on Sunday, Aug. 18. “Am I a square or was this weird af for a principal to do,” he captioned the video.
The video appears to show Nunes dancing suggestively in front of the mascot after they switched places. He then took the microphone and shouted to the student body, “What happens at Buhach, stays at Buhach.” Students have since confirmed via social media that the rally had a Vegas theme.
“This decision comes as part of our commitment to maintaining a safe and respectful environment,” MUHSD district spokesperson Viviana Fuentes said in a statement. “The District is conducting a comprehensive review of the situation. While the investigation is ongoing, Mr. Nunes will not be participating in any school-related responsibilities or activities.”
During the interim, MUHSD Executive Director Torrin Johnson and Buhach Colony associate principal David Rogers will be acting principals, per the MUHSD statement.
This is Nunes’ first year as the Buhach Colony principal. He previously worked as an associate principal for MUHSD at El Capitan and Atwater High Schools.
Attebery, 33, exclusively tells PEOPLE that he posted the video because he intended to share it with other parents, saying, “ ‘Hey, man, like, this is what your kids see. You guys have the right to see it.’ That’s all it was for me.”
Attebery explains that he was “shocked” to learn that Nunes was put on leave. “For all I know, he’s a great guy, but at the same time, it doesn’t make it any less weird.”
He adds that a lot of Nunes’ students from other schools “are sticking up for him,” noting, “There’s something to that.”
“Everybody’s saying he is [a good guy]. He probably is, and it’s probably just a bad joke,” he tells PEOPLE. “They’re like, ‘Oh, the students, that was all the students idea.’ And I’m like, ‘I know, but the fact that there wasn’t a red flag, is a red flag in itself.’ ”
“I’d rather just make sure these kids are cool,” he adds. “It was all weird, nonetheless.”
