Grafton teacher who threatened students gets plea deal

A former Grafton middle school teacher who became so enraged over finding swastikas drawn on a notebook and on a piece of student art in his classroom in May 2023 that he threatened his class of seventh-graders by saying he owned 17 guns and “would ‘F’ them up” pleaded guilty in Ozaukee County Circuit Court Monday, but not to the felony offense of making terrorist threats he was initially charged with.

Instead, David W. Schroeder, 47, who also told John Long Middle School students he would have his daughter come to their homes with a baseball bat and he would “go scorched earth” on them, pleaded guilty to three misdemeanor counts of disorderly conduct with the threat of using a dangerous weapon.

According to the Grafton Police Department, Schroeder is Jewish.

The reduced charges were part of a plea agreement that came with a recommendation from Ozaukee County Assistant District Attorney Benjamin Lindsay that Judge Paul Malloy withhold a sentence, place Schroeder on probation for two years and order him to serve four months in the county jail as a condition of probation.

Malloy essentially followed the recommendation but imposed and stayed the four-month jail sentence, which means Schroeder won’t have to serve it if he abides by the conditions of his probation.

A key condition of Schroeder’s probation, one that he stipulated to ahead of his sentencing, is that he permanently forfeit his guns, which he turned over to police shortly after the incident, so they can be destroyed.

Schroeder’s tirade, during which he told students, “I wish pain on all of you and your families,” according to a 13-year-old who was in his classroom at the time, caused panic at the school after students texted their parents, who called police.

Parents and officers rushed to John Long at the same time to find “chaos at the school,” Lindsay said.

But Monday’s sentencing hearing focused as much on Schroeder’s otherwise upstanding life as it did on the May 12 incident in his classroom, which his lawyer, Justin Padway, said his client instantly regretted, adding, “Those 30 seconds don’t define the 47 years of his life.”

Malloy agreed.

“At the end of the day, I look at this and say, 30 seconds in one day at one point in time should not define someone,” the judge said.

Padway said Schroeder served in the U.S. Army, then after being honorably discharged because of a medical issue, worked as a tile installer before going to night school and earning a teaching degree.

“I chose to go into teaching because I wanted to help kids reach their potential,” Schroeder told Malloy during the sentencing hearing.

He accomplished that goal at the Milwaukee charter school where he worked for years, serving not only as a teacher but as a mentor and champion of his students, many of whom came from single-parent homes, Padway said.

Letters from Schroeder’s former co-workers at the school, which were among the 24 written to Malloy on Schroeder’s behalf, described him as a “dynamic educator” and a teacher who “motivated students who were generally unmotivated about school,” his lawyer said.

In one of the letters, a former student described Schroeder as a “second father figure ... who saw in me what I didn’t see in myself,” Padway said.

The number of letters sent to the court on Schroeder’s behalf was remarkable, Malloy said.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many in a case,” he said.

Schroeder came to John Long Middle School in 2021, and about two years into his time there, on May 10, 2023, he found a notebook in his classroom with a swastika written on it, Padway said.

Unable to determine who drew the Nazi symbol, Schroeder took it to Principal Christopher Weiss but was told nothing could be done about it unless school officials could determine who drew it, he said.

Two days later, on the day of the incident, Schroeder discovered that two students had a drawing of a leprechaun with a rainbow and pot of gold. The drawing was in pen, and over it several swastikas were drawn in pencil, although the symbols were drawn backwards.

A student in the class said that is when Schroeder confronted the entire class, screaming as he threatened them.

“He acted in a reactionary sense to something that was offensive, and there’s nothing more he wishes he could take back,” Padway said.

Because of the incident, Schroeder, who now participates in anger management counseling, lost his teaching license and has been unable to find a new job, Padway said. He is a stay-at-home father of his two daughters, both of whom excel in school and other pursuits.

Schroeder told Malloy that the pressures of being a teacher “rose exponentially” during the pandemic, and when he saw students laughing about the swastikas drawn on student art in his classroom, he reacted in a way he deeply regrets.

“I failed as a teacher. I failed as a parent. I failed as a person,” he said, apologizing to his former students. “I never intended any harm.”

Lindsay, however, pointed out there were 29 victims — the students in his classroom — of Schroeder’s crimes, and that by reacting in a fit of rage he did exactly the opposite of what teachers are supposed to do.

Calling the swastikas “clearly childish,” Lindsay said they should have been the impetus for a lesson on the painful impact of such symbols.

“But his (Schroeder’s) reaction was completely inappropriate,” he said, adding that there is no evidence that the students who drew the swastikas were targeting Schroeder. “The role of teachers and schools is to correct bad behavior,” not model it.

Lindsay noted that Schroeder’s tirade scared students and their parents and caused considerable disruption at the school.

The incident occurred at about 9:15 a.m., and a short time later a student who asked to go to the bathroom instead went to the office and reported it to school officials. Other students texted or called their parents to tell them what happened.

Weiss, the principal, interviewed Schroeder, then escorted him from the school. It wasn’t until 11 a.m. that a parent, not a school official, called police.

When officers arrived at the school, Schroeder’s whereabouts were unknown, leading to concerns he might return to follow through on his threats, Lindsay said.

Officers were eventually able to reach Schroeder by phone and he turned himself in.

Lindsay noted that Schroeder had been the subject of several earlier complaints and his teaching contract had not been renewed for the 2023-24 school year.

“That raised some questions (at the time of the May 12 incident) about whether he was a disgruntled employee,” he said.

In January 2023, Schroeder was accused of telling a student he was “the worst in his career,” Lindsay said.

In February, Schroeder was accused of calling students in his class “D-bags,” and a month later it was reported that he recruited a student to punch another student, referring to the child as “his enforcer,” he said.

Malloy, however, said it is important to consider what was going on at Schroeder’s school and across the nation at the time of his outburst.

“One of the big things you have to look at is the context in which things occur,” he said. “I think there was significant provocation. And in the meantime you have religious institutions like synagogues that are under siege.”

As conditions of his probation, in addition to forfeiting his guns, Malloy ordered Schroeder not to have contact with Grafton School District employees or students, perform 30 hours of community service, participate in anger management counseling and maintain absolute sobriety.