A Michigan high-schooler filed an assault report with Mason Police after she alleges her teacher ripped a “Women for Trump” pin from her shirt and mocked her in class.
“I was really shocked that a teacher especially would do that,” Mason High School junior Sadie Earegood told WILX.
Earegood said her teacher, Paul Kato, immediately called her out in class over the pin last Thursday and announced he did not like it.
“He’s talking about the ‘Women for Trump’ pin and I said, ‘that’s fine you don’t have to like it, we can have our opinions,’” Earegood said.
That’s when the 16-year-old said Kato got physical.
“He grabbed it and I pulled, I tried to push his hand away and he grabbed my shoulder,” Earegood said. “(He) just kind of put his hand there, and then he started pulling more and more and I just started backing up.”
When Kato got his hands on Earegood’s pin, he turned it upside down and pinned it on his own shirt, she said.
The teacher then told students that upside-down was the proper way to wear the pin.
“I made a criminal assault and larceny report against the teacher,” Earegood’s mother, Capi Earegood, told WILX. “He had no right to put his hands on my child over a pin or anything else. The first amendment gives everyone the right to express their freedom of speech. No one should get that upset about someone wearing a political pin.”
The teen said she hopes Kato learns a lesson.
“I just want him to know that it’s not okay to do that. I want this to be a learning experience for other teachers, and I’m not going to stop wearing my political stuff,” Earegood said.
Mason schools superintendent Ronald Drzewicki wouldn’t discuss the ordeal with the media.
“Once we have a complete understanding of the situation,” he told WSYM, “we will take appropriate action.”
Mason Police Chief Don Hanson confirmed investigators are looking into an alleged assault at the school on Dec. 5.
The investigation comes just days after The College Fix released results of an online poll that found Earegood will likely face similar problems with her political persuasion after high school.
Forty-six percent of the roughly 1,000 right-of-center college students who completed the survey last month reported enduring professors who go on tangents criticizing President Trump.
“The survey results found that students who are majoring in the sciences had the fewest number of professors go on rants to criticize Trump at 40 percent. On the flipside, students majoring in the arts and humanities and social sciences had the most, at 53 percent and 50 percent, respectively,” according to the news site.
Leave a Comment
COMMENTS POLICY: We have no tolerance for messages of violence, racism, vulgarity, obscenity or other such discourteous behavior. Thank you for contributing to a respectful and useful online dialogue.