Superintendent: Parent assaults teacher over mask dispute at school
By Millicent Ozdaglar
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SUTTER CREEK, California (KCRA) — A Sutter Creek Elementary School teacher was allegedly assaulted by a parent during an argument over their child having to wear a mask.
The incident happened Wednesday on campus, about an hour after the first day of school came to a close in the Amador County town.
“The teacher was bleeding,” Amador County Unified School District Superintendent Torie Gibson told KCRA 3. “He had some lacerations on his face, some bruising on his face, and a pretty good knot on the back of his head.”
Gibson said the male parent verbally assaulted the school’s principal when his daughter walked out of a school building wearing a mask. When a male teacher stepped in, the situation escalated and a physical altercation happened, resulting in injuries. The teacher was treated at the hospital and released Wednesday night.
According to Gibson, the parent was frustrated with the school’s indoor mask requirement for everyone while students are on campus. The district’s policy also says teachers who have proved they are fully vaccinated can take off their mask indoors when students are not present. The district’s policy is in line with the indoor mask mandate by the state health department.
A letter Gibson sent to families said that “assaulting a staff member will never be tolerated on any school campus” and called for people to “take a breath, pause, listen and walk away if necessary.”
“Remember, we are not the ones making the rules/mandates, we are the ones required to follow/enforce them if we want to keep our doors open and students at school five days a week,” the letter said.
Gibson said she has received some angry emails since sending out the letter.
Parents who spoke with KCRA 3 Thursday on campus said they support the teacher who was assaulted and are upset a parent used violence on a school campus.
“When it bleeds out onto and into locations where our children are, that’s not okay,” one parent said.
The superintendent says the parent is not allowed on school property, but the student is. She says a police report was filed with Sutter Creek Police, and the district is working with the District Attorney’s office.
“If it’s appropriate to press charges, we will do that,” Gibson said. “If they tell me it’s not appropriate, I will trust them.”
KCRA 3 is waiting to hear back from Sutter Creek PD for a copy of the police report.
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