Parents of children at a middle school in Hernando County, Florida are livid after learning that a transgender teacher at the school was being allowed to return to class after allegedly threatening to shoot students.
On March 24, Fox Chapel Middle School teacher Alexander “Ashlee” Renczkowski (a man who identifies as a woman) was sent to speak to a guidance counselor to discuss the “bad thoughts” he was having after he “learned about a social media post where people were talking negatively about her sexual orientation.”
During the meeting with the counselor, the teacher allegedly expressed that he “wanted to shoot some students due to them not performing to their ability,” before retracting the statement.
A Transgender Florida math teacher who has been on hormone medication to transition, has been reinstated at his school despite making threats to “shoot” his students.
He was previously suspended for saying he wanted to “shoot” kids and then “kill” himself according to a parent… pic.twitter.com/FxhtdmoTaH
— Oli London (@OliLondonTV) April 14, 2023
Later, law enforcement questioned Renczkowski, during which time he insisted that he would never harm a student and was only expressing frustration. An investigation then deemed Renczkowski to not be a threat.
However, Fox 13 News reports that the Hernando County Sheriff’s Office obtained a Risk Protection Order from a judge that allowed them to remove three firearms as well as ammunition from the teacher’s home.
Yet, Renczkowski was allowed to return to class the very next day, and the school neglected to notify parents of the incident!! The only reason they found out was thanks to a report by local journalist Tom Lemons.
BREAKING: Florida transgender teacher 'Ashlee' who allegedly said they were going to 'SHOOT THE KIDS' remains in classroom despite parents' complaints, but has guns taken away by law enforcement https://t.co/ApJsGVSVrM
— Jack Poso ???????? (@JackPosobiec) April 14, 2023
“It took roughly 2 1/2 weeks for them to even say anything to the parents and send some kind of — excuse my language — bullshit recording,” area father Jim Looker told the Daily Caller, and many of the Fox Chapel parents agreed.
“You can try to talk to me and tell me I can get in trouble for not sending my kid when they’re sick and forgetting to send the note in, then why are we not notified as parents when there’s a teacher that has made a statement of this degree?” asked mother Dana Johnson.
A school board meeting was held on April 11, and many people showed up to express their outrage according to Hernando Sun.
LifeSite News reports:
The day before the meeting, the school sent out an automated phone message from Principal Carmine Rufa, stating that “while the teacher in question did make a comment to colleagues that was concerning, school and district followed protocol in conducting a full investigation,” which “determined the comment was not an imminent threat to the campus,” and “the teacher has been cleared to return to the classroom.”
After initially returning, Renczkowski has again been taken out of the school after the public outcry. But the New York Post added that it was not until the Florida Department of Education, which is overseen by conservative Gov. Ron DeSantis, stepped in and reached out to the Hernando School District that Renczkowski was removed from “all student contact” pending a district investigation.
I don’t care who you are. If you express that you want to shoot students, especially as a teacher, you should not be allowed to return to the school and the parents of those students should DEFINITELY be informed!
