GFW teacher pleads guilty to malicious punishment
Sep. 3—GAYLORD — A Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop Elementary School teacher pleaded guilty to malicious punishment of a student and resigned from her job.
Renee Lorraine Schmidt, 50, of St. Peter, was charged in February in Sibley County District Court after she reportedly improperly carried a special needs kindergartener through school hallways and up stairs and the girl said she could not breathe.
Schmidt was charged with gross misdemeanor malicious punishment of a child and misdemeanor counts of assault.
Under a plea deal approved by a Sibley County judge on Thursday, all charges are to be dismissed if Schmidt does community service and meets other conditions.
Schmidt pleaded guilty to the gross misdemeanor charge, but it will be dismissed once she completes 40 hours of community service, pays a $500 fine and spends two years on probation.
She also agreed to resign from her teaching position, according to court documents.
This comes a few weeks after a state arbitrator ordered the school district to reinstate Schmidt. After interviewing witnesses, the arbitrator wrote that he had doubts the girl was injured or could not breathe as alleged in the criminal charges.
The GFW District put Schmidt on leave after the incident and intended to fire her, according to the public arbitration ruling. But Schmidt appealed to the Minnesota Bureau of Mediation Services.
Arbitrator Frank Kundrat decided the district did not have adequate grounds to terminate Schmidt and instead ordered she be given a five-day suspension.
That order is now likely moot pending approval of the criminal plea agreement. Except the order requires the district to compensate Schmidt for "any loss of pay and benefits, excluding the five-day suspension.
In the arbitration hearing, Schmidt reportedly admitted she picked up the special education student under her armpits and held her to her chest as she carried her down hallways to another classroom.
But during arbitration she denied ever hearing the child say she could not breathe, contrary to an allegation in the criminal complaint that she admitted she had heard the girl say that.
The special education teacher told the arbitrator she carried the student because the child would not move and she did not want the girl to miss lunch. She said she also was concerned the girl would again dangerously hang herself from a swing in the special education classroom if she did not take her to another classroom.
One staff member had reported hearing the girl screaming she could not breathe. But Kundrat wrote that he watched surveillance video and the girl did not appear to be screaming or otherwise in distress. No staff whom Schmidt and the girl passed in the halls appeared to be concerned by the incident, Kundrat also noted.
The district also should have provided more training on proper restraint practices before the incident occurred, Kundrat concluded.
GFW Supt. Jeff Horton said in a statement district safety training goes "above and beyond state and federal requirements" and is "in alignment with best educational practices."
"GFW Public Schools will continue to take the necessary steps to keep our students safe and uphold our community values," he said.
