A California elementary teacher has come under fire for saying students in a conservative club at the local high school could “jump off a bridge” after a student was filmed waving a “f–k Biden” flag on school grounds.
Kristin Usilton, who works for the Paso Robles Joint Unified School District, made the comments in a video she posted on her Instagram account after seeing footage of a student waving the anti-Biden flag on Veterans Day, the Paso Robles Press reports.
“The Paso Robles Conservative club for the high school, you can go jump off a bridge,” she said. “I’m going to post what they thought was a great show of support for the veterans, who I’m pretty sure would be absolutely offended by what they did on school campus.”
Usilton then posted footage of the flag-waving student.
She followed up with a second video that same day, noting she’d received an “incredible influx of messages” about her previous comments.
“When I said ‘go jump off a bridge, I just meant go away, and I will not use that term again because of the incredible influx of messages I got about that. But if that’s what you focused on in that message, you’re kind of part of the problem,” she said in the second video.
The teacher’s video quickly started spreading on social media and among students.
Superintendent Curt Dubost said the district was investigating Usilton’s video, as well as the student filmed waving the “f–k Biden” flag.
Dubost said a student effort to honor Veterans Day was disrupted by the “very poor choice to include a profane flag.” He added that the student, or students, involved would be disciplined.
He went on to admonish the teacher’s comments on social media regarding the flag incident.
“The District is responding accordingly through the Human Resource office. The District will make it clear to all employees that as an employee of PRJUSD, social media is not the appropriate venue for criticism of our students and families and that we must conduct ourselves in a professional manner,” he said.
“With this stated, we want to emphasize that the District does not tolerate threats on our employees or students, nor do we condone cyber-bullying.”