Bob CollinsThe last thing teachers and students need right now is some guy walking into buildings, past the administration area where he’s supposed to sign in, into his kid’s classroom and handing the teacher a cardboard gun.
Nobody knows yet what point Jonathan M. Fitzgerald, 35, of Madison, Wis., was trying to make yesterday morning at Shorewood Hills Elementary School, but teachers and students are shaken enough without his assistance.
“Fitzgerald made statements to the teacher in the room about being an intruder who was allowed access to the school and gave the teacher a piece of cardboard with the word ‘gun’ on it,” Shorewood Hills Police Chief Aaron Chapin tells the Wisconsin State Journal.
“Whatever the ultimate goal of the individual, the actions that he took were obviously not appropriate and should not have been done,” he said.
Liz Merfeld, a spokeswoman for the Madison School District, said Fitzgerald is banned from the school and all school district grounds until further notice.
The incident left the teacher and students “shaken up,” Merfeld said. She said a restorative circle approach was used for the children to discuss and process the situation, after which they reported feeling “secure, safe and supported.”
“What the parent did was bizarre, and understandably, the event left (the teacher) feeling emotional,” Merfeld said.
The principal of the school says procedures were properly followed. A staff member followed the parent to the classroom, as police were called. He handed the staff member another cardboard gun and she recognized him as a parent.
He’s been charged with disorderly conduct.
The worst job in America right now belongs to teachers.
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