Special-ed teacher who threatened Trump voters resigns — and tries to explain herself in tearful on-camera interview
The Connecticut special-education teacher who threatened people who voted for President-elect Donald Trump in a viral video has resigned — and she tried to explain herself in a tearful on-camera interview.
Annie Dunleavy of Chapman Elementary School in Cheshire spoke in person with WTNH-TV, tearfully at times trying to explain herself. Her interview demeanor certainly was a stark contrast to what was seen in her viral video in which she threatened Trump voters.
‘The message I was trying to get across, and it came off very wrong was … if this is going to give people the almost permission in their minds to enact violence against women or anybody, I wanted to basically just say, like, I’m not going to go down without a fight.’
In that video, she claims that “people of color and poor people and gay people and all the people that I care about aren’t gonna be safe in America — neither the f*** are you guys. Just because you won doesn’t mean we don’t remember who the f*** you voted for. You’re not in the clear.”
She added, “Please don’t test your gangster on me because you will end on a stretcher. Gone. Forever. So serious. Nobody f***in’ talk to me unless you wanna swing. If you wanna fight, text me, call me, whatever. Anybody else stay the f*** outta my face.”
The threatening clip ends with her saying, “And if you voted for Trump, literally please delete me, block me, get rid of everything of me — or step to me, so that I know what’s up, and I can handle you how I see fit. Please, just come forward, we f***in’ know. Just tell me. Or leave.”
In her interview with WTNH, however — which included the interviewer reading some of her threatening words aloud to her — Dunleavy acknowledged, “It sounds very extreme, and again, I was in a moment of high emotions, and I shouldn’t have ever posted the video. But … the message I was trying to get across, and it came off very wrong was … if this is going to give people the almost permission in their minds to enact violence against women or anybody, I wanted to basically just say, like, I’m not going to go down without a fight.”
The station said Dunleavy also declared that “I will fight for myself, and if someone was to try to hurt me, I would protect myself.”
Another clip of the interview shows Dunleavy in tears: “I mean, you know, it’s my life’s dream to be a teacher. I consider those kids my kids because I don’t have any of my own. And they fill that for me, and it’s so fulfilling, it’s so rewarding. … I know that what people see right now, I don’t look like that person, but I truly would do anything to help any child and any family in need.”
WTNH added that Dunleavy said she’s been getting threats and has moved out of her home. She added to the station that Cheshire police — which had launched an investigation into her viral video — told her Wednesday she won’t face any charges.
You can view the interview snippet with Dunleavy here. WTNH prefaced the snippet by indicating she “apologized to her students,” and the station noted in its story that Dunleavy “is sorry” — but there is no apology from her in the station’s video snippet. Perhaps an apology will be part of the full interview with Dunleavy, which WTNH said will air 10 a.m. Sunday.
‘I can’t unsee the video … and I can’t walk into that school. … I’m literally shaking, I can’t walk into that school and hand my kid off to that person.’
Samantha Rosenberg, chair of the Cheshire Board of Education, said in a written statement that the board recognizes “the intense emotions this situation has stirred,” the station reported.
“The Board of Education is united in finding the teacher’s behavior reprehensible and unacceptable, and we are horrified and deeply offended by statements made in the video,” the statement reads in part, WTNH reported.
Prior to Dunleavy resigning, Cheshire Public Schools’ Superintendent Jeff Solan said she was placed on leave until the outcome of an investigation, WFSB-TV reported. Solan added that once the video went viral, the district received a large number of calls — mostly from people outside the Cheshire community — and that business couldn’t be conducted as usual with the teacher on campus.
WTIC-TV reported that the Cheshire Town Council held a meeting Tuesday night, and some parents said they weren’t happy with what was expressed in the video.
WTIC reported that Amy Bourdon — a Cheshire mom whose son with special needs attends school in the district — said, “I saw a woman in crisis, and then when I replayed it a couple of times, I got up from my table and went and locked my front door.”
Bourdon — who is a Republican, WTIC said — added that “we are the targets. Our lives have been targeted by an individual that cashes a paycheck from the town of Cheshire every week.”
Lorie Barnes told WTIC that “I’m tired of being a Trump supporter and whispering.”
Barnes, who’s lived in Cheshire all her life, added to WTIC that her grandson will be moving from England and entering the Cheshire school district — and now that terrifies her.
“I can’t unsee the video … and I can’t walk into that school. … I’m literally shaking, I can’t walk into that school and hand my kid off to that person,” Barnes told WTIC.
You can view a news station video report here about the controversy.
Other outbursts from anti-Trump teachers
As Blaze News has previously reported this week, a Southern California high school teacher on the day after the election lashed out in a classroom at a student who was wearing a Trump hat.
Blaze News this week also noted that a teacher at a different Southern California public high school went on a profane rant in his Advanced Placement world history class against Trump the day after the election and was placed on administrative leave.
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