A former student walked into a Milwaukee high school, presented herself as a substitute teacher, and ended up in charge of students for two class periods before anyone stopped her.
Prosecutors have now charged 23-year-old Amy Jones with impersonating a public employee and five counts of exposing a child to harmful descriptions over the Sept. 24 incident at Rufus King International High School. Jones has not been convicted of the charges.
What happened inside the classrooms drew much of the initial attention. Students reported racial slurs, sexually inappropriate remarks, insults, and questions about drugs. The school district’s subsequent investigation, however, identified another problem: Jones should never have made it that far.
Milwaukee Public Schools found that office staff failed to perform a required check that was supposed to establish whether Jones was actually assigned to the school.
Into The Classroom
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Jones was a former Rufus King student and had visited the school about a week before the incident, according to the criminal complaint. During that earlier visit, she got inside by blending in with students and heard staff discussing the agency used to provide substitute teachers.
When she returned Sept. 24, eight teachers were absent, but only seven substitute positions had been filled. Jones presented herself as a substitute and signed into the building as one, according to FOX6 Milwaukee’s reporting on the criminal complaint.
The unfilled position gave her an opening.
A teacher helped Jones get situated in a classroom and remained with her for roughly 20 minutes. After that teacher left, students described a dramatic change.
They told police Jones used profane language and racial slurs, made sexually inappropriate statements, separated students by race and gender, and insulted students over their appearance and money. Students also reported that she asked whether anyone had a vape or marijuana.
Several students recorded what happened, and police later collected videos during the investigation, according to WTMJ.
Students eventually alerted school staff. Jones was escorted from the building before she could teach a third class.
A Missing Check
The episode raised an obvious question: How did someone who did not work for the district get placed in front of students in the first place?
Milwaukee Public Schools later provided an answer.
Principal Doreen Badillo told families and staff that Jones went through the school’s daily safety scan, but the office failed to follow the district’s procedure for confirming that she was a legitimate substitute.
MPS uses a system called Frontline. Substitute teachers are connected in that system to actual teacher absences and assigned to particular schools and classrooms.
Office staff are supposed to confirm that a person claiming to be a substitute appears in Frontline and is assigned to that school before allowing the person to proceed.
That verification did not happen with Jones.
“This should happen every time a substitute visits a school,” Badillo wrote in the message reported by Wisconsin Public Radio.
MPS said employees would be retrained and held accountable while the district reviewed its safeguards. The district also said it was providing support to students from the affected classes.
What She Told Police
Police interviewed Jones on Sept. 30.
The criminal complaint says she acknowledged impersonating a substitute teacher despite having no training or experience for the job.
Jones told police she had gone to the school because she was bored and said she “hates kids” and wanted to “f— around,” according to the complaint as detailed by FOX6 Milwaukee. The same account appears in the Metro report that brought renewed attention to the case.
She also acknowledged discussing sex with students, characterizing it to police as a “birds and the bees” conversation. When asked whether that was appropriate, Jones responded that it was not, according to the complaint.
Jones also told police she thought the incident would make her famous.
Case Moves Forward
Jones appeared in Milwaukee County court Oct. 6.
Court Commissioner Rosa Barillas found probable cause for the case to continue and set a $5,000 signature bond. Jones was placed under Level 3 supervision through JusticePoint and ordered not to contact Rufus King International High School or students identified in the complaint.
Her defense attorney told the court that Jones had voluntarily sought psychiatric treatment after the incident and argued that problems obtaining prescribed medication contributed to her condition at the time. Those assertions are part of the defense’s account and do not alter the allegations contained in the criminal complaint.
Jones is scheduled for a preliminary hearing on Oct. 20.
If convicted on all six felony counts, she faces a combined maximum of 21 years in prison.