Parents in Cheshire are pushing for answers after a teacher was put on leave over a “threatening” video aimed at people who voted for President-elect Donald Trump.
The video went viral after it was screen-recorded and re-shared online.
“I can’t un-see it. And I can’t walk into that school, I’m literally shaking. I can’t walk into that school and hand my kid off to that person,” parent Lori Barnes said.
Cheshire parents made their voices heard at a town council meeting Tuesday night. Many shared their concerns about the video of a local teacher, which has gone viral.
In the video, the teacher can be seen saying, “You’ll end up on a stretcher.” She has since been temporarily removed from the job.
The teacher appears to warn those on her private social media account who voted for Trump to stay away, or else.
“This was a death threat. You know, these were, these words landed in law enforcement’s hands,” Amy Bourdon, of Cheshire, said.
People have mixed feelings about the situation.
“That’s what the right to speech is for, for you to say how you feel,” Verna Jones, of Prospect, said.
In a statement, Superintendent Jeffrey Solan acknowledged that the video included one of their teachers sharing what she intended to be a private message.
“She was expressing her personal opinion and not those of the Cheshire Public Schools. The person who filmed this then posted the video to social media outlets. Cheshire Public Schools is reviewing this situation as a personnel matter and as such we are following all applicable laws,” Solan said in a statement.
“I hate to see anybody lose their livelihood, but she shouldn’t be with children,” Barnes said.
Town Council Chair At Large Peter Talbot spoke about the video briefly at the beginning of the meeting. He described the video as an “expletive laced tirade.”
“This kind of rhetoric has no place in our society and serves absolutely no purpose. Cheshire, we are better than this. America, we are better than this,” Talbot said.
The school district has been inundated with calls and emails, mostly from people who are not from Cheshire, the superintendent said.
The Cheshire Police Department is conducting their own investigation.
NBC Connecticut is still waiting for an update from the superintendent on the status of the teacher’s employment.
