Woodbury High School Principal Sarah Sorenson-Wagner said she is focused on the well-being of her students and their families after what she described as traumatic racial behavior by a substitute teacher last week.
School officials say the substitute used the same police restraint on a student that killed George Floyd in 2020. Students reported that the teacher also twisted a student’s arm behind the student’s back, mimicked pointing a gun at students, and repeatedly made racist comments and told sexist jokes.
“Everything he said was so far over the line with anything you want to talk about with children,” Sorenson-Wagner said.
She invited parents of students in the three classes taught by the substitute to meet with her and other district officials in person, and she talked with the students as well. She quickly realized the students’ biggest concern was whether the teacher would ever return as a substitute.
“We are going to make sure that he never returns to our school and our school district,” Sorenson-Wagner told the students. “We have reported him to the police and the licensing board. He will not return!”
She said the meetings with students and parents made clear the substitute “caused great harm and damage” to the school community.
Sorenson-Wagner said students had trouble wrapping their heads about what was happening. “It was surreal,” she said. “The students used their best coping skills to get through the period. They didn’t want to make eye contact just to make sure that he would not engage with them. Many put on their headphones. They were stuck in the class and were waiting for it to end.”
In spite of the school’s no cell-phone policy, some students surreptitiously recorded the substitute while he taught. Once students brought her videos of the teacher’s actions, Sorenson-Wagner went to the classroom and escorted the substitute out of the building.
Sorenson-Wagner said that her role is to help heal. “Unfortunately this man has given public education a bad name. He gave teachers a bad name,” she said. “Teachers who are doing their job, a job they love.”
The community has been very supportive. Sorenson-Wagner has received hundreds of messages of support and only two negative emails.
She said she plans to continue to help students and families process what happened.
District’s Next Steps
South Washington County Schools is working with Teachers on Call, the vendor that supplied the substitute, to learn more about how it hires and conducts background checks. The district does not have an orientation program for substitute teachers and Sorenson Wagner said 833 is considering adopting expectations for substitutes in addition to providing them a copy of the district policy on racial equity.
