Is it OK for a teacher to kick a student out of a Zoom class?

Q: I teach 8th-grade social studies in a public school that’s still in hybrid format. About two-thirds of my students attend class in person, and the other third are on Zoom. I’m admittedly burnt out — I’m talking stick-a-fork-in-me done. I don’t have a lot of patience right now, and it’s awful trying to teach students in the room and students on Zoom simultaneously. My administrators recognize this and have tried to be supportive. They gave us their cell numbers, which is new, and said we could text them if we needed an emergency break. I think they know our nerves are frayed and that a good number of us are on the verge of taking a mental health leave.

To be honest, my students aren’t in much better shape. They’re often rude in ways I’m not accustomed to experiencing. It’s like they’ve spent so much time at home negotiating with and arguing with their parents that they’ve forgotten we’re their teachers and they can’t behave the same way with us. They need a lot of reminders about rules and etiquette and respect. Last week, one of my Zoom students pushed me too far day after day. He kept interrupting me, questioning my authority, and asking the other students how they could focus when we were studying such irrelevant and stupid material. His classmates tried to ignore him, but he wouldn’t let up. I gave him warnings all week that if he didn’t cut it out, I’d have to kick him out of the Zoom room. He continued, and so I booted him out, just as I said I would.

Within an hour, his irate mother had called the principal and complained about how I handled the situation. She said it’s a public school and her son has a right to an education. The principal understood why I did what I did, but he also asked me to be judicious about how often I remove kids from my class. I was left feeling chastised for doing something wrong, but it has to be OK to remove a disruptive student when they can’t pull it together, right? What’s your take?