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Teacher's Restraining Order Bars Student Wrestler From High School

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WAKE COUNTY, N.C. — A star wrestler at East Wake High School and his family members say a teacher went too far when she took out a restraining order that is preventing the 18-year-old senior from returning to school.

The restraining order was taken out by Jennifer Borchert, a math teacher at East Wake, who alleges that Johnel Aldaya threatened to kill her. The outburst allegedly happened after Borchert accused him of cheating on a math test earlier this month.

Aldaya denies that he cheated on the test and made a death threat, but does take responsibility for the outburst in which family members say he kicked and screamed and cussed at Borchert.

"I went through the whole thing wrong," Johnel Aldaya said. "Like, I should have calmed myself down and talked to the principal."

Aldaya and his family believe that Borchert may have had preconceived ideas about Aldaya, because his twin brother was her former student.

"I think, it's because the entire year, she's made it so difficult for him -- so I think it was just the last straw for him to say, 'You know, I'm going to go and confront her about it,'" said Aldaya's sister, Maria Mitchell.

John Aldaya says he thinks the order is unfair because his son had already served a 10-day school suspension.

"All the family wants is for the restraining order to be lifted, in order not to have a precedent where a teacher without consulting the school administrator can ban any student from attending school so he can get an education," John Aldaya said in a prepared statement.

Family members say Aldaya, who was diagnosed with attention deficit disorder, is a good student who maintains a B average.

WRAL tried contacting Borchert by telephone and in person for an interview, but was unsuccessful in its attempts. School administrators responded to WRAL's request for comment by saying they were not at liberty to discuss the case since it is a personnel matter.

A court hearing is scheduled for Tuesday.

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