Teacher arrested after cutting boy’s hair, officials say

VISALIA, Calif. — A high school teacher was arrested on suspicion of felony child endangerment after authorities said she forcibly cut the hair of one of her students while singing the national anthem.

The Visalia Times Delta reported that teacher Margaret Gieszinger was arrested Wednesday after videos posted to social media showed a student at University Preparatory High School in Visalia sitting in a chair at the front of the classroom as the teacher cuts his hair.

In a video obtained by KFSN-TV, the 52-year-old science and chemistry teacher is heard belting out “The Star-Spangled Banner” while cutting chunks of the boy’s hair and tossing them behind her. The circumstances of what led the teacher to cut the student’s hair were unknown.

After cutting the boy’s hair, Gieszinger grabs at a girl’s long hair before the students make a run for it out of the classroom, the video shows.

Officers were sent to the high school on the grounds of the College of the Sequoias, a community college in Tulare County, in response to reports of child endangerment involving a teacher and a “pair of scissors,” campus Police Chief Kevin Mizner told the Times Delta. Mizner did not return a message from the Associated Press seeking comment.

Rob Herman, a spokesman for the Tulare County Office of Education, said counselors were available Thursday to support students at the public school.

“We take very seriously the safety of the students in classrooms and on the” College of the Sequoias campus, Herman said in an email. He said Gieszinger “will not return to her classroom” but wouldn’t say whether she had been fired.

Gieszinger is being held in lieu of $100,000 bail.