HERNANDO COUNTY, Florida (LifeSiteNews) – Parents of children at a Florida middle school want answers as to why they weren’t informed about a “transgender” teacher allegedly threatening to shoot students and being allowed to return to class afterward.
The New York Post reported that on March 24 the teacher in question, identified in other media reports as Alexander “Ashlee” Renczkowski, a man who identifies as a woman and is married to a woman, was sent to speak to a guidance counselor at Fox Chapel Middle School to discuss “bad thoughts” he was feeling stemming from having “learned about a social media post where people were talking negatively about her sexual orientation.”
At the meeting, he allegedly said he “wanted to shoot some students due to them not performing to their ability,” but immediately retracted and denied the sentiment. When later questioned by law enforcement, Renczkowski insisted he would never harm a student and was just expressing frustration about lack of effort in class.
An investigation determined that Renczkowski was not a threat, but Fox 13 News reported that the Hernando County Sheriff’s Office subsequently obtained a Risk Protection Order from a judge enabling them to remove three firearms plus ammunition from his home.
But the biggest sources of community outrage, the Daily Caller reported, stem from the fact that Renczkowski was allowed to return to class the next day, and the school did not notify parents; the story went public more than a week later thanks to a report by local journalist Tom Lemons.
“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 Caller. Several parents of Fox Chapel students said the same.
“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?” mother Dana Johnson asked.
Many made their displeasure known at an April 11 school board meeting, the Hernando Sun reported. 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.