Kindergarten teacher who went off on Walker signs awaits school board action

By M.D. Kittle | Wisconsin Reporter

MADISON, Wis. — An investigation into a Germantown kindergarten teacher who went ballistic on several GOP signs at this past summer’s Jefferson County Fair because she was furious over Gov. Scott Walker’s collective bargaining reforms is finished, a district official tells Wisconsin Reporter.

“We have completed our investigation and are moving forward with a meeting between an employee and the school board,” Jeff Holmes, superintendent of the Germantown School District, said of the review of the conduct of April Kay Smith, a teacher at Germantown’s Amy Belle Elementary School.

Smith remains on paid administrative leave four months after confessing to the incident in Jefferson. The district is statutorily bound to pay Smith during her absence.

Holmes declined to discuss the district’s findings and could not elaborate on the potential disciplinary actions, if any.

“I will be able to elaborate after those things are done,” he said. “I can’t talk about those things until we go through the hearing process.” Holmes said he is hopeful the hearing will be held and the matter resolved by the week of Nov. 17.

Smith, 39, first denied, then admitted to Jefferson County authorities she damaged several signs at the Jefferson County Republican Party booth after the fair had shut down for the night on July 9.

An incident report obtained by Wisconsin Reporter in August notes Smith “confessed to damaging and ripping out the signs.”

“She stated her husband told her to lie and that she’s just so angry with (Gov.) Scott Walker due to the fact that she was a school teacher,” the report states.

Walker’s collective-bargaining reforms, known as Act 10, checked the power of public employee labor unions and sparked the ire of many state and local government employees.

Smith was tracked down by a fair-goer who was relaxing by the GOP tent and disgusted by what she saw.

Roxane Stillman followed Smith around the fairgrounds, calling for a police officer. A Jefferson County deputy finally arrived and interviewed Smith, who appeared “to have glassy and bloodshot eyes and slurred speech,” according to the report. The document states Smith tested .06 in a preliminary breath test, below the legal limit of intoxication.

At that time, Smith told the deputy she was a kindergarten teacher from Germantown, the report states.

“I advised her again that I believe she was being untruthful and asked her how she would feel if one of her students lied to her,” the deputy wrote in the report. “At this time, she confessed to damaging and ripping out the signs. She stated … that she’s just so angry with Scott Walker due to the fact that she was a school teacher.”

Smith was scheduled to appear last week in Jefferson County Court on a disorderly conduct charge. Instead, she pled no contest to the charge and paid $169 in court assessments, according to online court records.

Smith could not be reached for comment.