HARRISON COUNTY, Ohio -- Local parents said they were shocked and outraged to hear that a man who was acting as a substitute teacher during the Harrison Hills teacher strike was never hired by the district.

A school resource officer from the Harrison County Sheriff’s Department told NEWS9 that Frederick Saunders of Youngstown acted as a seventh-grade social studies substitute teacher for several days at Harrison Junior High.

Saunders was charged with misdemeanor assault after police said he hit a picketer with his car on Tuesday, Oct. 2.

Then the school district made a big discovery; it says Saunders was never hired.

Superintendent Jim Drexler released a statement to NEWS9; where said Saunders made it through security and apparently was working as a teacher, even though the district had never hired him.

Many parents who talked to NEWS9 said they were shocked.

“How do they know there's not somebody else that's not supposed to be there, that wasn't hired?" said Cindy Sinquefield of Scio.

Sinquefield said she doesn't want to send her 8th grade daughter back to the junior high school.

"How am I supposed to be able to let my children go to school and know they're safe there?" said Sinquefield.

The district's release went on to state: "We have installed additional procedures to improve the safety of students and the buildings and make sure the teachers who are teaching have been thoroughly processed and undergone or passed background checks. I regret that Mr. Saunders was able to find a way into the building."

Natalie Pasquarella, NEWS9