DOUGLAS COUNTY, Colo. — A Douglas County history teacher is apologizing to the family of a child she attacked on social media as “Hitler Youth” after mistaking him for the Covington Catholic school student at the center of a national controversy.
Mountain Ridge Middle School teacher Michelle Grissom admits she was behind the now-deleted tweets aimed at 17-year-old Jay Jackson, a student in Kentucky who was not present for the confrontation in Washington, D.C. between students and a Native American activist.
Grissom emailed 9NEWS an apology directed to the Jackson family.
“I feel horrible about not having made a public apology sooner,” Grissom wrote. “I have not been able to make statements of comment on the matter, but I need for you to know how repentant I am about what happened.”
“As an educator, I care deeply for children and would never want to cause them harm,” Grissom continued. “I made a mistake and I offer my sincere apology to Jay and to your family.”
The president of Grissom’s teachers union, Kallie Leyba, confirmed the authenticity of the email.
Grissom resigned her position on the union’s executive board Thursday.
Earlier this week, DougCo Schools placed Grissom on paid administrative leave.
Grissom has not responded to emails and phone calls from 9NEWS this week.
Dr. John Jackson told 9NEWS on Tuesday that he is the father of Jay Jackson, who was the target of Grissom’s posts referring to the student as “Hitler Youth.”
“My intention was never for her to lose her job,” Dr. John Jackson said. “It was only after multiple attempts to get her to remove the post did I feel it necessary to include her school and school district in the discussion in an attempt to get her to take down her post”
Dr. John Jackson has asked to hear directly from DougCo Schools.
As of Thursday night, Dr. John Jackson said the district had not reached out to the family.
The DougCo school board had a citizen removed from a Thursday night board meeting by law enforcement when he brought up Grissom’s comments.
The school board cited a policy against criticizing people by name.
A review of the Jan. 8 board meeting shows the same rule was not uniformly enforced.
RELATED: Man booted from DougCo board meeting for naming teacher accused of writing 'Hitler Youth' tweets
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