(Tony Sifert, Headline USA) A bomb threat shut down Wisconsin public schools Monday, a little over a week after three middle school boys were investigated by the police for using “incorrect pronouns” when referring to a classmate, the Daily Mail reported.
Kiel Middle School — the same school that sought to discipline the boys — received the threat at around 12:45 PM, during school hours.
In advance of the threat, City of Kiel Police Chief Dave Funkhouser had announced extra security around school buildings in light of “extremely vulgar, hateful, and disturbing” communications directed at schools and the police, according to the Mail.
“Our actions are in response to the hateful comments expressed to the staff of the schools, and we proactively increased our presence in and around district buildings and grounds,” Funkhouser told reporters.
Funkhouser’s actions, however, were insufficient to prevent the threat from causing Wisconsin’s public schools from evacuating and sending all students home.
The threat also caused the Kiel Area School District Board of Education to reschedule it’s May 23 meeting.
Braden Rabidoux, one of the boys disciplined by Kiel Middle School, appeared on Fox News with his mother, Rosemary, and a Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty lawyer last week to describe the surreal situation.
Rabidoux expressed his fear that the Title IX charge would permanently stain his record.
“[I am] mostly anxious for my present self and my future self because a charge like that on my record could shatter my chances at getting into a college when I grow up,” Rabidoux said.
Rabidoux’s mother reflected on the absurdity of the situation.
“This is middle school,” she said. “These guys are kids, they’re learning how to interact with each other, and they’ve been taught all their life to see a girl and use pronouns ‘she’ and ‘her.'”
Thomas Berg, the Rabidoux’s lawyer, called the school’s disciplinary investigation a “truly egregious First Amendment violation.”
“The school’s theory seems to be that any use of a wrong pronoun is automatically punishable speech under Title XI,” Berg said.
