Superintendent, family receive death threats

DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — Only Channel 2 Action News is talking to a local superintendent who says he and his family are getting death threats.

Channel 2's Liz Artz spoke to the DeKalb County Schools superintendent about the threats.

He told Artz that the threats have come from multiple states and stem from an article that suggests he stated "no pro-Trump immigration rhetoric will be tolerated, on campus or off."

"We categorically deny and refute any of that being truthful," Dr. Stephen Green said.

He said the article came after three teachers resigned over allegations of anti-immigration comments.

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Green released a statement in November supporting all of DeKalb County's students.

The statement never mentioned President Donald Trump, but portions of his statement were used throughout the article.

Green said threats started coming in from across the country.

"My team is not at ease until they find the source of some of these threats," Green said.

Green said his family has also received threats.

He said his wife and grandchildren are all under some level of protection after the emails and phone calls.

There is a criminal investigation underway by the district police department and the FBI, Green told Artz.

The man who wrote the story said he stands behind his article. Leo Hohmann released the following statement:

I have been contacted by several members of the local media today informing me of Dr. Green's displeasure with my article of Feb. 14 on WND.com. This was the first I've heard of any problems. He has not contacted me, nor has anyone from DeKalb County Schools reached out to me to ask for any corrections or retractions to this story, which to my knowledge is 100 percent accurate.

The AJC reported, well before me, that these two teachers "resigned in lieu of termination," and cited school district officials for that information. So now Mr. Green is trying to run for cover because a wider audience saw my reporting and apparently he is getting blow back.

Mr. Green's attempts to slander me in the local media for reporting the truth about his policies suggest he is catching heat for trying to snuff out the First Amendment rights of every DeKalb County Schools employee. He is rightly embarrassed for having his anti-free speech policies exposed and now he is trying to lash out against the messenger who exposed him. Perhaps he would be better off to look in the mirror and think about changing his message.

Dr. Green released a statement Thursday, which said:

A conservative news and opinion website and online news aggregator has falsely reported that DeKalb County School District employees have been fired for their political views. It is important to know that this outlet never contacted the District or me to discuss the facts.

The article inaccurately represents the voluntary departure of three school district employees, two teachers and one nurse. These former employees had been investigated by our school system for comments suggesting DeKalb students with immigrant backgrounds faced deportation. Unfortunately, these comments were publicly available to students and families and negatively impacted the employees' effectiveness in their schools.

These former employees received full due process of law and school board regulations after allegations came to light of their inappropriate comments and actions toward students.

Following fair and thorough school district investigations by the appropriate school principals, those principals and the regional superintendent of these employees unanimously recommended termination. All three employees provided written/oral comments and were afforded a full chance to rebut allegations and challenge any recommendations.  All three voluntarily left the system without termination.

We are a public education system. We receive public tax funding. We are required by federal and state authority to educate every student who comes into our system. Students must only provide information such as proof of residency, immunization records, and proof of age … not green cards or immigration status.

We fully respect the free speech and all other constitutional rights of our employees, but actions by DeKalb staff members that interfere with their ability to effectively perform their jobs or interfere with our students' rights to receive education are simply not acceptable.

We value all students, no matter their birth homes or heritages. We love them, and we respect what their presence here says about the goodness and generosity of America.  Our diversity is our strength.

We strongly support the diversity of our school system, and we greatly value our role in supporting our immigrant population through the benefits of quality education. This is a core belief. We will not tolerate any form of bullying or discrimination … on or off district property … that interferes with employees' ability to effectively perform their jobs or that interferes with learning and the rights of others.

Cox Media Group