Jewish teacher in Wisconsin arrested for threatening students, who drew swastikas, police say

GRAFTON, Wis. (AP) — A Jewish middle school teacher in Wisconsin was arrested for making terrorist threats toward students who drew swastikas on a paper in his classroom, police said.

The Grafton Police Department, north of Milwaukee, has not identified the seventh grade teacher, they say told the students that he had 17 guns in his basement and that he wasn’t afraid to use them.

The John Long Middle School teacher, who police say is Jewish, was angered by the drawings, WTMJ-TV reported.

“At first he kind of just acted normal, he just put it on his desk like, ‘I’m going to tell the office about this,’” seventh grader Ethan Poulos told the television station. “But then he picked up the piece of paper and went on a ramble about how that’s bad and that’s a disgrace to his people.

“He started mentioning the N-word and how that was worse than writing the N-word on the wall. … He started saying how he has 17 guns in his basement and he’s not afraid to use them, and he said that his daughter was going to go to like to our house with a baseball bat and like beat us up or something.”

The teacher was booked into the Ozaukee County jail for making terrorist threats and exposing a child to harmful material, according to police. Both charges are felonies.

Grafton Superintendent Jeff Nelson said Friday in a letter sent to families that the teacher was immediately placed on leave and removed from the school. The teacher will not have contact with students until an investigation is complete, Nelson said.