Transgender Teacher Spoke About Wanting To Shoot Students, Parents Accuse District Of ‘Cover-Up’

Authored by Patricia Tolson via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

It took three weeks for parents to discover that a transgender middle school teacher in Florida confessed to a guidance counselor that the teacher was having “bad thoughts” of self-harm and shooting students.

Now parents are demanding answers, accusing the district of a cover-up, and petitioning Florida’s governor to remove certain members of the Hernando County School Board as well as the superintendent.

Ashlee Renczkowski, a biological male who presents as a female, is the teacher who allegedly made the comments while at the school on March 24.

Kerry Thornton is an assistant principal at Fox Chapel Middle School in Spring Hill, Florida, which is part of the Hernando School District.

According to a report filed with the Hernando County Sheriff’s Office by Fox Chapel School Resource Officer Brian Timothy, Thornton alerted Timothy the afternoon of March 24 that Renczkowski “had just made concerning statements about self-harm and then possibly making statements about shooting students.”

Thornton had visited Renczkowski in the classroom and asked how the teacher was doing, according to Timothy’s report. Renczkowski replied, “Not good, I’m having bad thoughts.” Thornton radioed for guidance counselor Kimberly Walby and brought Renczkowski to Walby’s office.

Social Media Triggers

In Walby’s office, Renczkowski spoke of “a social media post where people were talking negatively” about Renczkowski’s “sexual orientation,” according to Timothy. He also said that Renczkowski was triggered by social media posts critical of the “sexual orientation and lifestyle” of Renczkowski’s wife, Fawn Renczkowski, who also teaches at the school.

Thornton and Walby advised the school resource officer about Renczkowski’s comments.

Renczkowski told Walby about wanting “to shoot some students” because they weren’t performing to their ability, according to the police report. Walby then said Renczkowski recanted the statement. But Walby also “began to reiterate that she has short-term memory issues” and was “starting to second-guess the conversation” when it came to “details and the order of events,” according to Timothy’s report.

Renczkowski also admitted to owning three handguns.

Sandra Hurst, the mental health coordinator for the Hernando School District, traveled to the middle school and met with Renczkowski to conduct a threat assessment. Both Hurst and Thornton agreed that Renczkowski was not an immediate threat to students and therefore could not be involuntarily committed under the Baker Act, but the sheriff’s office did send an officer to Renczkowski’s home that evening to collect the firearms, which Renczkowski surrendered without issue.

In his report about the incident, Timothy said that after meeting with Renczkowski, Hurst “advised that a plan will be devised to meet with Ashlee prior to her returning to work with students. The school principal and Safe Schools was made aware of this incident.”

Parents didn’t learn about the incident until a local reporter named Tom Lemons broke the story on April 7.

An April 17 news release from the district indicated that Renczkowski was not at school March 27–29 but returned to work on March 30. Renczkowski was then teaching in the classroom until April 13, when the Florida Department of Education intervened to have Renczkowski removed.

The Epoch Times contacted Renczkowski for comment but did not receive a response by press time.

‘Respondent May Be Seriously Mentally Ill’

To provide “clarification,” Hernando County Sheriff Al Nienhuis issued a press release on April 12, saying “the investigation revealed that no criminal offense(s) occurred; therefore, no arrest(s) could be made.”

Deputies also determined that “the individual did not, at that moment, meet the required criteria for involuntary commitment under the Baker Act.”

But Nienhuis also said, “In an abundance of caution, the HCSO petitioned the court for a temporary Risk Protection Order,” which the court “granted immediately.”

In an April 13 statement, HCSD Superintendent John Stratton said the district was going to “take a hard look at all the actions that were taken on that day, and in the days following the incident, and determine if any steps were missed.”

“As is our longstanding practice, while the matter is under investigation, the teacher will be removed from all student contact,” Stratton assured. No return date has been set.

In response, the Florida Department of Education (DOE) issued its own press release, informing the public that it was only after the DOE expressed concern directly to Stratton that he chose to remove Renczkowski from the school.

In an April 17 news release, Stratton again said that “the district’s threat assessment was conducted by trained Safe Schools staff and the Hernando County Sheriff’s Office” and “all investigating agencies agree the teacher did not meet criteria for imminent harm to self or others.”

However, according to the risk protection order obtained by The Epoch Times—“served upon the respondent” on March 28, signed by Renczkowski, and “filed in open court” on April 10—it was determined by the HCSO that “the Respondent may be seriously mentally ill or may have recurring mental health issues.”

Renczkowski was ordered to immediately surrender all firearms, ammunition, and “any license to carry a concealed weapon or firearm,” and the document further ordered that Renczkowski may not possess, purchase, or receive any firearm or weapon for one year.

Parents Want Answers

In the wake of the March 27 shooting at The Covenant School in Nashville, Tennessee, many Fox Chapel parents are afraid. They’re frustrated by the lack of transparency and dismissive responses from the school district.

Now, a new petition alleges that “the delay in notification was due to a ‘cover-up’ that involved District administration and ranking members of the School Board and other agencies.”

Read more here…