Teacher suspended over ‘sniper rifle’ comment about Greta Thunberg, Iowa district says

A science teacher is suspended over making a “sniper rifle” comment ahead of Greta Thunberg’s visit to Iowa, school officials say.

Thunberg, the 16-year-old Swedish girl who has gained acclaim and notoriety as a climate activist, was visiting Iowa City for a climate strike Friday. The student strikers want the University of Iowa and the city to completely run on renewable energy by 2030, the Iowa City Press-Citizen reported.

A Facebook user posted an online magazine article about the protest ahead of Thunberg’s visit and asked whether anyone planned to attend. A screenshot of the post shows a comment by Matt Baish, who is listed as a science teacher on the Waterloo West High School website, KCRG reported.

“Dont have my sniper rifle,” Baish wrote, according to the screenshot obtained by KCRG.

The comment no longer appears on the original post.

A screenshot of the comment was posted to the school district’s Facebook page.

A spokeswoman wrote in the comments of the post that the “situation is being investigated.”

In an email to McClatchy news group, the spokeswoman for the school district confirmed that Baish is on administrative leave during an investigation of a social media post.

“We are aware of a social media situation involving one of our employees,” the school district wrote in a message to families. “The nature of the content shared rose to the level of putting this employee on administrative leave pending an investigation. We appreciate your patience as we sort through the details and thank you for respecting the process.”

Baish did not respond to an email Friday morning. He could not be reached by phone, The Associated Press reported.

Pictures showed hundreds of people had packed downtown Iowa City to march and hear Thunberg speak.

This story was originally published October 4, 2019 at 1:36 PM with the headline "Teacher suspended over ‘sniper rifle’ comment about Greta Thunberg, Iowa district says."