Teacher Arrested After Forcibly Cutting Student’s Hair While Singing National Anthem

Tular+County+Sheriffs+Office+mugshot+of+Margaret+Gieszinger.

Tular County Sheriff's Office

Tular County Sheriff’s Office mugshot of Margaret Gieszinger.

Raquel Perry, Reporter

Margaret Gieszinger, a 52-year-old high school teacher in central California, has been arrested Wednesday after videos posted to social media showed the teacher forcibly cutting a students’ hair while singing the National Anthem.

The incident happened at University Preparatory High School in the city Visalia. Gieszinger held a pair of scissors in her hand as she urges a student to sit in a chair in front of her. In the video, the teacher cuts chunks of the boy’s hair as she belts the “Star Spangled Banner”. When the boy stands up to leave, the teacher walks over to other students and threatens to cut their hair next, but the students start running outside after Gieszinger grabs a girl’s hair, before she pulls away. Counselors were eventually sent to the school for students after the incident.

Students told KFSN that when Gieszinger entered the classroom that morning, she held the scissors in her hand and declared that it was “haircut day.” One anonmyous student who witnessed the incident said, “We think she’s going to try to be funny and be like, ‘Oh, did you really think I was going to cut his hair?’ But she did cut a hair off, and she started singing the ‘Star Spangled Banner’ and she was singing it really loudly as she ceremoniously tossed a chunk of hair behind her. I hope I never have to see her at the school again because I know for a fact I can never see her as a respectable authority figure in my life.” Students said that they were very unsure of what made her behave that way.

The teacher was arrested on suspicion of felony child endangerment by The College of the Sequoias District Police Department and was held at Tulare County’s pre-trial facility on $100,000 bail.Then on Friday, Gieszinger was charged with one count of false imprisonment, two counts of cruelty to a child, two counts of battery and one count of assault. She was released from jail Friday night and will appear in court on Dec. 17. She did not take any questions from reporters and she walked out with her husband.