Posted on 10/08/2021 11:34:01 AM PDT by lightman
The father of a Beachwood Elementary School student who had close contact with someone who tested positive for COVID-19 initially refused take his son home to continue classes while quarantining and angrily shouted at school staff after being called by the school nurse, authorities in the New Jersey community said.
John Wehrle eventually took the boy from school after being told by the police school resource officer that the Division of Child Protection and Permanency would have to be notified if the student didn’t leave, Beachwood police said in a statement.
In a phone interview Friday morning, Wehrle said that he never shouted at or cursed the school nurse or any other employees. He also denied that he said he wouldn’t pick up his son, who is in kindergarten.
“I wasn’t screaming, I wasn’t yelling, I didn’t force my way in,” Wehrle said, who added he simply wanted to ask some questions about the circumstances that led his son to be a close contact.
Wehrle said he spent only 11 minutes on school property — arriving at 10:22 a.m. and departing at 10:33 a.m.
The incident unfolded when the Wehrle, who police described as “irate,” came to the school after being called by the nurse, police said. His son had been in close contact with another student who had tested positive for COVID-19 and would have to quarantine while continuing classes virtually, the nurse told the dad, according to police.
Wehrle instead told the nurse that he wouldn’t take the boy home, but would stop by the building “to get some answers,” according to police.
Minutes later, he entered the school Wednesday by following contractors who had been buzzed into the building, police said.
Once inside, he began screaming at employees and repeatedly saying he wouldn’t sign out his son, police said. Classes were in session at the time, police said.
Wehrle told a different story, saying he only poked his head inside after no one responded for a couple of minutes when he tried to get buzzed into the building, which he noted was not locked. The father said a school employee then asked him how she could help him.
He added that he only spoke in person with workers in the main office, noting that the nurse’s office is in a different part of the building.
Wehrle said no one at the school would answer any questions for him, but he learned that one one other student besides his son was instructed to quarantine.
“I (said I) would like some information on where it happened, when it happened and how it happened so I can judge for myself if he was just on the playground and gave the kid a high five or if this is a kid he sits next in class every day and it’s a high risk,” Wehrle said. “How can you determine the exposure — and they wouldn’t answer me.”
Wehrle provided a video clip to NJ Advance Media that he recorded outside the doors of the school showing part of his interaction with the school resource officer. While he and the police officer both raise their voices, Wehrle was not yelling in the short clip.
The nurse later told police she was “repeatedly interrupted and talked over by (the father) while she was trying to give him information on his child’s situation.” He eventually had to be escorted from the school.
“They also advised that he was irate and screaming once inside the office causing a disturbance inside of the school while school was in session,” according to police. “He shouted loudly that he was not taking his son out of the school. The employees, who were visibly shaken, advised that it took one of the male contractors to escort (the father) outside of the building.”
Beachwood Elementary School is part of the Toms River Regional school district, where 561 students and 16 staff members are quarantined as of 7 a.m. Friday. Officials say 271 students and 36 staff members have tested positive for COVID-19 since the start of the school year last month. Not all of those cases are active.
The district enrolls about 15,500 students.
Police also implored the public not to take out their anger on school workers following orders.
“We remind the public that the Beachwood Police Department and Toms River School System must adhere to the (executive orders) issued by Governor (Phil) Murphy and the rules that govern them,” police said. “We please ask that you remain patient through this difficult time for all of us. We understand the frustrations many of you have with the rules that are currently in place but we as a department, school district, and parents must work together to navigate through this difficult time.”
Given the DOJ memo, I think it would be a good idea to wear bodycam with each and every school / schoolboard encounter, and save two copies on different devices
We understand the frustrations many of you have with the rules that are currently in place but we as a department, school district, and parents must work together to navigate through this difficult time.No, "we" do not have to work together. We can be in respectful opposition to each other. It's not personal, I get that.
Yep. They like to start sentences with “Get ready for…” {followed by some draconian B.S.} or shriek “This is coming here soon!” on articles about things like the power trips occurring in Australia, but they offer no thoughts about resisting such cr@p.
It’s as if some of these people *want* this and will happily knuckle under to whatever evil the government tries to dole out.
“Can you imagine those people at valley forge or standing on the bank of the Delaware river?”
“NO general Washington! There are too many of them. We are doooooomed. Let’s go run and hide instead.”
I don’t know how these people look at themselves in the mirror nor do I understand why they are permitted to stay on FR
What an idiot. If the kid catches covid that’s a good thing - he’ll have twenty times the immunity with none of the risks.
USA Today op-ed blasts Biden DOJ for getting involved in school board meetings: 'Outrageous'
'The threat, in short, appears to be mostly a figment of Democratic imagination,' Fordham University professor Nicholas Tampio wrote.
Coming soon to schools/cities near everyone: FBI raids against the terrorist Moms and Dads just wanting a good education for their children not Marxism and more mask B$!
https://www.foxnews.com/media/usa-today-op-ed-biden-doj-school-board-meetings
that the Beachwood Police Department and Toms River School System must adhere to the (executive orders) issued by Governor (Phil) Murphy and the rules that govern them,”
Yep..the cops are yer friends...
Those who want to just hide because they are afraid remind me of that Halloween Insurance commercial...
“Why can’t we just get in the running car? Are you crazy? Let’s hide behind the chainsaws! Good idea”...
I just wish the few mouselike ones in this part of the boonies would pack up and move back to the hiding place they came from since they just run around with their hair on fire and whine-they aren’t going to help, or exhibit a backbone-let them just GTF out of the way...
:) I bet they did.
Hey, if it was good enough for Abraham Lincoln...good enough for our children.
The worst ones are the “IZ notTA vottingz no morah!!!!” Like it’s some sort of virtue signaling and when they try to convict others not to vote as well.
Another WHITE domestic terrorist parent
Yes, they do sound kind of like kids threatening to hold their breath until they turn blue.
I guess some people would run far and fast-but the problem with that is wherever they run to is likely to be more than they can handle-especially if they are used to living in a city with everything right there at hand-and of course they don’t speak any language but English...
I could live in Mexico without any problem-even in a rural area-I’m Hispanic, I speak Spanish, etc and it is cheap, if primitive-my 1st hubby and I lived off grid in remote areas as kids and did it again as adults by choice-and I’ve done it since, keeping my skills to go full Galt soon-I’m a native Tejana and I’m not giving up my way of life or leaving my country or state-”Es mejor morir de pie que vivir de rodillas”...
It would be a beautiful thing if people like that on BOTH sides made good on that threat...
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