Evanston police are investigating allegations that a substitute teacher was watching inappropriate content on his laptop during a middle school class.

Sixth graders at Haven Middle School, 2417 Prairie Ave., told school officials on Friday the substitute teacher was watching inappropriate content on his laptop while they did a science lab.

Haven Middle School principal Kathy Roberson said in an email to all Haven families on Friday that the school received multiple reports of the incident at around 3 p.m. The substitute was removed from the classroom and all students are safe, she said.

“The district takes these allegations very seriously and the substitute teacher has been removed pending an investigation,” said Melissa Messinger, Evanston/Skokie School District 65 communications coordinator, in an email to The Daily.

Evanston police Cmdr. Joseph Dugan told The Daily in an email that the teacher was cooperating with the investigation and had handed over his laptop to police. He said the substitute teacher denied watching pornography, but he told investigators he was watching a TV show that “may have had inappropriate content.”

“The school sent out a notification to parents and is handling internal actions related to the (substitute’s) conduct,” Dugan said in the email.

The substitute teacher is not in police custody and not being identified at this time, Dugan said.

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