California parent allegedly assaults teacher in COVID mandate dispute on first day of school
The superintendent of a Northern California school district wrote that a parent engaged in a “serious physical altercation” with a teacher after arguing with the school’s principal over the COVID-19 mask mandate on Wednesday — the first day of school.
“Unfortunately, a parent took it upon himself to verbally assault a principal that led to a serious physical altercation between him (the parent) and a teacher as the teacher intended to protect the principal,” Amador County Unified School District Superintendent Torie Gibson wrote in a letter sent to parents Thursday.
Gibson’s letter does not explicitly mention masks, but Gibson in an emailed response to The Sacramento Bee late Thursday confirmed the incident “did stem from the masking mandate established by CDPH.” The California Department of Public Health in July issued guidance requiring that K-12 schools mandate masks for students while indoors.
Gibson told The Bee that the teacher was treated at an emergency room for injuries and released late Wednesday.
The superintendent wrote to parents: “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 Amador Ledger Dispatch newspaper reported that the altercation happened during after-school pickup at Sutter Creek Elementary School.
The Sutter Creek Police Department in a Facebook post Thursday afternoon confirmed officers were “dispatched to a local elementary school regarding a disturbance between a parent and a staff member concerning COVID-19 procedures and facial maskings.”
The department said the incident is under investigation and findings will be forwarded to the Amador County District Attorney’s Office.
Gibson told The Bee that the district’s position is that the incident “absolutely should be prosecuted” by law enforcement.
“Assaulting a staff member will never be tolerated on any school campus, and will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” Gibson wrote to parents. “I beg that we do our best to set all feelings aside and look at what is best for students.”
The Amador school board during an Aug. 4 meeting voted 4-1 to approve the district’s COVID-19 health and safety plan, but also tabled until this week a declarative resolution on masks that would “insist that the governing authority for school safety protocols be returned to locally elected school trustee members” and “advocate for Parental Choice for masking and COVID-19 vaccination for their children.”
Gov. Gavin Newsom this week announced a vaccine-or-test requirement for teachers and other staff at K-12 schools, both public and private, across California. There is no vaccine mandate at this time for K-12 students.
“We know emotions are high, and conversations are intense,” Gibson’s Thursday letter to Amador Unified families continues. “The mandates are forever changing so understanding current requirements is critical.”
This story was originally published August 12, 2021 at 3:51 PM with the headline "California parent allegedly assaults teacher in COVID mandate dispute on first day of school."
