Law enforcement is investigating a threatening phone call made towards staffers at Kulp Elementary School in Hatfield Township, triggered by an allegation that a fifth-grade teacher separated students by race and made white students apologize to Black students during a classroom exercise in May 2021.
In the 54 second voicemail, which was received by North Penn School District late Sunday night, a man claiming to be from Las Vegas references the alleged incident, threatens to sexually assault the teacher and demands that they be fired. The man goes on to disparage the staff with vulgarity and says he’ll see their heads swinging from poles.
The unedited audio, which was released by the school district on Tuesday, can be heard in its entirety by clicking here. Discretion is strongly advised as the clip contains a lot of profanity and threats of violence.
Since May 2021, rumors have swirled of the incident, with comments being made both online and during the public comment periods at school board meetings alleging the incident occurred. To date, however, the incident has remained an allegation, as no evidence has surfaced showing such an exercise occurred.
Discussion surrounding the alleged incident resurfaced last week when the “Libs of Tik Tok” Twitter account shared video of an unnamed parent addressing the alleged incident with the North Penn School Board during a meeting. In the video, the parent claims that she pulled her daughter out of Kulp Elementary after students in her daughter’s class were lined up from “whitest to darkest,” and then the white students were made to apologize to the Black students.
“Do not tell me that it did not happen,” said the parent. “You need to put an end to this. Kids do not see color, and you are segregating them and you are separating them. This is not ok.”
The post subsequently went viral, with more than 5,000 retweets and nearly 15,000 likes.
A 5th grade teacher in @NPSD allegedly lined up students according to their skin color and made the white kids apologize to the black kids pic.twitter.com/jqTypGRFzi
— Libs of Tik Tok (@libsoftiktok) February 1, 2022
In response to an article by Jon Campisi at the Lansdale Patch, the district acknowledged that the class participated in a cultural proficiency exercise in May 2021, however they denied that the students were lined up or forced to apologise.
"We acknowledge that a classroom activity involving cultural proficiency did occur last May; however, students were never lined up in a particular manner and students were not asked to apologize to others for any reason," stated Christine Liberaski, director of school and community engagement for the North Penn School District, in the Lansdale Patch article.
North Penn School District declined to comment further on the voicemail, aside from acknowledging that law enforcement is actively investigating the call. North Penn Now has independently verified that the FBI is aware of the voicemail, however we could not confirm if they are investigating the incident.
Efforts to reach Hatfield Township Police Chief Bill Tierney for comment occurred after close of business. We will update this article with his comments when we receive a response.
See also:
Parents Sound Off About Masks at School Board Meeting After Image of Pennfield Student Goes Viral
Exclusive: Mother of Pennfield Student Involved in Mask-Taping Incident Speaks Out
North Penn Issues Statement After Image Surfaces of Teacher Taping Mask to Student
Pennfield Social Studies Teacher Passes Away on Christmas After Short Battle with COVID-19
Police Called After Tempers Flare Over Mask Policy at North Penn School Board Meeting
