A Milwaukee woman allegedly returned to her old high school, talked her way into a classroom as a substitute teacher, and spent the next two class periods roasting students instead of teaching them.
Some got insults about their weight. Others heard racial slurs and sexually explicit remarks. She allegedly asked whether anyone had marijuana or a vape, bragged about having felonies, and assured students she was comfortable going to jail.
Several students recorded her behavior before reporting her to school administrators. By the time staff discovered their substitute was an impostor, she had already supervised two classes.
Amy L. Jones, 23, now faces six felonies over her September 24 visit to Rufus King International High School in Wisconsin. Milwaukee Public Schools has acknowledged that employees failed to follow procedures intended to prevent an unauthorized person from receiving a classroom assignment.
She Picked the Right Day
Jones had attended Rufus King herself and reportedly visited about a week before the incident, blending in with students and overhearing employees discussing a substitute teaching agency.
When she returned September 24, she entered alongside students, approached a secretary, introduced herself as a substitute teacher, and signed in. Nobody verified that she was authorized to teach before she received a classroom assignment.
The timing worked in her favor. Eight teachers were absent that day, but the school had secured only seven substitutes.
Principal Doreen Badillo told police that Jones “got lucky because there happened to be an unfilled position,” according to reporting based on the criminal complaint.
Another teacher helped Jones prepare classroom materials and remained for approximately 20 minutes before leaving her alone with the students.
Jones later told detectives that she never showed anyone an assignment on her phone. She had not even brought a phone to school, according to the criminal complaint, as reported by Wisconsin Public Radio.
Things Got Personal
With the other teacher gone, Jones allegedly abandoned any pretense of delivering an ordinary lesson.
According to the complaint, she called one student “fat boy,” separated classmates by race and gender, and questioned students about their sexual experiences.
She reportedly asked whether students were gay or virgins and made sexually explicit comments to the boys about women.
Laila Forrest, a Rufus King junior whose friends attended the classes, described some of those remarks to CBS 58.
“They heard her saying racial things and inappropriate things,” Forrest said.
Forrest recalled Jones asking students to raise their hands if they had lost their virginity, then making another remark specifically about Black students. Other accounts described Jones directing Asian students to sit together and telling white students they were “white as s—.”
One student reported that Jones told someone to “shut the f*** up.” She also allegedly dismissed the class as “so f***ing lame and annoying.”
Several students recorded the encounter, capturing Jones swearing, mocking a student’s weight, and describing sexual acts. Milwaukee police detectives subsequently collected multiple videos as evidence.
Students reported her behavior to administrators after the second class period. Badillo contacted the substitute teaching agency, which confirmed Jones did not work there, and school staff escorted her out before the third class began.
She Had an Explanation
When Milwaukee police interviewed Jones on September 30, she reportedly acknowledged pretending to be a substitute teacher and admitted making inappropriate comments.
Her explanation for spending a school morning insulting teenagers was considerably shorter.
“Amy stated she went to the school because she was bored,” the criminal complaint reads. “She stated she hates kids.”
Jones reportedly said she wanted to mess around and thought the incident might make her famous.
She characterized her sexually explicit remarks as a “birds and the bees” talk, although her description did little to excuse the classroom discussion.
When detectives asked whether it had been appropriate, Jones conceded, “It was not appropriate,” according to WTMJ’s reporting on the complaint.
There Was Supposed to Be a Check
On September 24, the day Jones entered the school, Rufus King Principal Doreen Badillo sent families a brief notice reporting that a substitute teacher had been making inappropriate comments.
“We have started an investigation and will take all appropriate disciplinary action,” Badillo wrote. “The substitute is not currently working in our building.”
At that point, the school’s message still described Jones as a substitute teacher.
An October 5 update clarified that Jones was a former student whom employees recognized and that she had never been a substitute teacher. Badillo confirmed that Milwaukee Police Department school resource officers had been involved on the day of the incident, while the district’s Title IX coordinator had also been notified.
The following day, the principal disclosed what the district’s initial investigation had uncovered about the security failure.
Milwaukee Public Schools uses Frontline, a staffing system that connects approved substitutes with actual teacher absences and classroom assignments. Office employees are required to check that a person claiming to be a substitute appears in Frontline and has been assigned to that particular school.
Jones had passed the school’s daily safety screening, but staff apparently failed to perform that separate verification.
“Our initial findings indicate that the former student did go through the school’s daily safety scan, but those same initial findings suggest the office did not follow proper district protocol in validating the individual as a substitute teacher,” Badillo wrote in the subsequent communication to families.
“This should happen every time a substitute visits a school. There is no excuse for it not occurring, and we take this matter seriously.”
The principal said employees would be retrained and held accountable, while the district reviewed its safeguards and provided support to students in the affected classrooms.
Forrest questioned how someone could claim to be a substitute and obtain access to students without anyone checking.
“People can just walk in and say they’re substitute teachers and just teach? That’s not OK,” she told CBS 58. “We need to do better with our safety.”
The Court Was Less Amused
Milwaukee County prosecutors filed six felony charges against Jones on October 4.
One count concerns impersonating a public employee under Wisconsin Statute 946.69(2)(c). The other five involve exposing a child to harmful descriptions under Statute 948.11(2)(am), which covers certain sexually harmful communications to minors. Those charges concern more than simply swearing at students or insulting their appearances.
All six are Class I felonies.
At her October 6 initial appearance, Jones’ attorney told the court she had sought psychiatric treatment after the incident and had a bed available at Granite Hills in West Allis, according to CBS 58.
Court Commissioner Rosa Barillas found probable cause to continue the case and set a $5,000 signature bond, with Level 3 supervision through JusticePoint. Jones was also ordered to have no contact with Rufus King High School or five individuals identified in court records.
Each Class I felony carries a maximum prison sentence of three years and six months. If convicted on all six counts and given consecutive maximum sentences, Jones could face a combined 21 years of imprisonment.
Her preliminary hearing is scheduled for October 20 at 1:30 p.m.
All parties are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in a court of law.