About two dozen Woodward-Granger High School and Middle School students left their classrooms Tuesday morning and gathered in front of the school in order to protest in support of a popular teacher.
“Ms. Gleason! Ms. Gleason!” the students shouted in unison as school administrators and local law enforcement stood by and urged the students to return to their rooms.
Amanda Gleason is a popular English teacher in the middle school, which has about 190 students.
Woodward-Granger Community School District Superintendent Brad Anderson said he could not discuss the reason for the students’ protest because it involved personnel matters that are confidential.
“I can tell you that no one has been fired,” Anderson said. “That’s just a false rumor that someone started spreading on social media.”
Middle School Principal Amy Bidwell said her “only concern is for the safety of our students and our teachers.” Bidwell was the principal of the Waukee Middle School for three years and assistant principal of the Prairieview School in Waukee for three years prior to coming to the Woodward-Granger district this year.
Anderson said a special meeting of the Woodward-Granger School Board would be called within the next few days regarding the matter.
Students said they believed Gleason was subject to “harassment,” including confinement to her classroom, and they claimed high school students, including teaching assistants, were not allowed to enter her classroom.
The students’ claims could not be independently confirmed.
“Miss Gleason has been so great for this school,” said one of the protesters. “She has helped me so much.”
The Dallas County Sheriff’s office, Woodward Police Department and Granger Police Department responded to the incident.
