Widely shared social media post alleges assault by Madison middle school staff
In a social media post Saturday, a Madison woman alleges staff members at an East Side middle school physically and sexually assaulted her son at one of the employees’ homes.
The post, which had been shared more than 25,000 times by Sunday morning, listed a Madison house address and photo, and the staff members’ names and photos, neither of whom are listed as owners or live at the address.
But Madison police on Sunday night said details in the post "appear to be inaccurate and potentially harmful."
In a statement late Saturday night, Madison School District spokesperson Edell Fiedler said the district had been made aware of the post, which named two staff members at Whitehorse Middle School.
“These matters are being taken very seriously, and a team was immediately pulled together to address the situation,” Fiedler wrote.
In its statement Sunday night, the Madison Police Department said, "Based on initial interviews and security camera video review, details being widely shared on social media appear to be inaccurate and potentially harmful. We appreciate the public concern and ask the community to allow us to conduct a thorough and fair investigation into this matter."
The allegations couldn’t be confirmed Sunday, and Fiedler asked that people refrain from sharing the original post as officials work to gather the facts.
In the Facebook post, the Madison woman alleged that her 13-year-old special needs son was taken to one of the staff member’s houses on Oct. 23, according to his GPS monitoring unit. When she went to the school to report the allegations, the woman wrote, the school called the police on her.
The allegations were posted by another Facebook user who said she was the woman’s sister-in-law. The post has prompted thousands of online comments, including several calling for violence.
The house listed in the post is not owned by either of the employees, according to the Madison assessor’s online database, and the homeowner, Al Barber, said neither has any association with the property.
Later Sunday, the post was taken down and replaced with a similar post, but with the address and photo of Barber’s house removed.
Barber said a friend informed him of the original post and told him people were standing outside the house Friday, watching it. A small group of people was seen protesting in front of the house Sunday evening.
“I know the post was shared by a couple of organizations in Madison, but that’s about all I know,” Barber said.
He said he has no idea why anyone would target his house, which is four blocks from the school.
“I have zero to do with the school,” he said. “I have a family that I’ve got to protect.”
Barber said he has been in touch with the police and has been told officers would keep an eye on the property.
“It’s just an ordinary family here that has nothing to do with the school, nothing to do with any of these people,” Barber said. “I just want to make sure we’re safe and secure here.”
In an interview with a Wisconsin State Journal reporter Sunday, Tieasha Watson said she posted the claim by the boy’s mother because the mother is disabled and deaf.
Watson said the boy, who has severe autism, told his mother that a teacher took him out of his physical education class to the nearby house, where the teacher removed the boy’s GPS monitor with a magnet.
She said the boy told them the three then drove to another house near La Follette High School where the alleged assault occurred, a detail not mentioned in the original post. None of the claims could be substantiated Sunday, including the location of the second house.
