Woodbridge Teacher Placed On Leave For Capitol Protest Attendance

WOODBRIDGE, VA – A teacher at Fred Lynn Middle School has been placed on leave after he told his students on a Zoom call last week that he was at the riots at the U.S. Capitol earlier this month, according to published reports.

The Prince William Times reported Tuesday that Benjamin Plummer was captured on video shot by a student talking about his experience at the Capitol on Jan. 6 when which insurgents and supporters of President Donald Trump stormed the Capitol building, the newspaper reported. The paper reported that a letter written by Principal Hamish Brewer to parents saying that Plummer had been placed on leave.

In an email to Patch Tuesday, Prince William County Schools spokeswoman Diana Gulotta did not identify the teacher and did not send a copy of the letter to parents as requested by Patch. In her email, she said that the district is aware of reports of social media posts “connecting employee(s) to the protests and riots” at the Capitol on Jan. 6.

The email continued by saying that allegations will be investigated and handled according to the district’s policy but that school officials would not comment on any personnel matters.

“Prince William County Public Schools (PWCS) recognizes that employees have a right to engage in political activity on their personal time,” the statement from the district reads. “However, employees may not engage in political activities during worktime, on school property, or using school resources, and employees who engage in criminal activity which calls into question their fitness as a role model for students may no longer qualify for employment with PWCS.

“All contracted employees are required to swear or affirm allegiance and loyalty to the Constitution of Virginia and to the Constitution of the United States.”

According to the published report, the teacher who the newspaper identified as Plummer, can be heard telling students that he was at the Capitol and that the media blamed Trump for inciting his supporters to carry out the riots. “I knew that was a set up,” Plummer said on the video, according to the paper.

The paper also reported that Plummer characterized the actions of Trump supporters as being “incredibly peaceful” as compared to those of others including Black Lives supporters.

“We listened to three months in the summer of organizations destroying cities, burning cities, looting cities. What did the media say about these people? Oh, they're peaceful protesters,” Plummer said in the Zoom call, according to the newspaper report. “Now, you have Trump supporters that are incredibly peaceful. They all believe. They're all Christians. They believe in God. You know, they're not there to damage or hurt things.”