A substitute teacher for South Washington County Schools was relieved of his duties after he “reenacted the prone restraint that resulted in the murder of George Floyd” during a class at Woodbury High School.
Per KTSP, the incident occurred on October 14, and the teacher, identified as Steve Williams, was walked out of the school’s premises after the principal learned about his actions. Williams was employed by a company that provides substitute teaching services for the school district. The company in question announced his termination in the wake of the incident.
Williams, who is also a police officer with the Prescott Police Department, was also placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of an investigation into the incident. Prescott Police Chief Eric Michaels said Williams has been with their department for two years.
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“Mr. Williams was not serving in an official capacity as a Police Officer for the City of Prescott when the alleged actions occurred. The City of Prescott and the Prescott Police Department find the current allegations, if true, made against Mr. Williams to be very disturbing, reprehensible, and we in no way condone his actions,” Chief Michaels said. “Our deepest sympathies go out to the South Washington School District, staff and students.”
The incident is said to have occurred during a fourth-period English class, KTSP reported. Williams reportedly “put a student on the ground in front of the class” and “reenacted the prone restraint that resulted in the murder of George Floyd.”
The Principal of Woodbury High School, Sarah Sorenson-Wagner, told the news outlet that she became aware of Williams’ actions through students, adding that she later escorted him out of the school.
“I just knew I had to get him out of the school. I mean, it was very quickly apparent,” said Sorenson-Wagner. She also said students “showed me a video of it, and they also had an audio recording of other things that he had been talking about in the class.”
On Tuesday, October, 15, families received a letter from the district leadership. Besides telling “disturbing” stories about things that happened in his law enforcement job, the letter stated that Williams also made “sexist jokes” and “repeatedly made racially harmful comments.” He additionally “invaded students’ space” and performed acts such as “holding up a gun and pointing it at students.”
“I just still feel sick about it,” Sorenson-Wagner said. “I feel like my job is to make sure students know that they are safe and loved, and that didn’t happen on Monday.”
She added: “I think the kids just feel really weird about it. They knew it was wrong, but they didn’t know how to stop it.” The principal also described Williams’ actions as “deranged” and “unbelievable.”
Sorenson-Wagner said the Minnesota Department of Education and the Minnesota Professional Educator Licensing and Standards Board have been notified about Williams’ actions. She said that was done to have authorities bar him from working as a teacher in Minnesota.
Sorenson-Wagner also said they are working with the Woodbury Police Department to “investigate, to see if there’s criminal charges that would be possible.”
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