Superintendent gets restraining order against dad who pushed him off stage so he couldn’t shake daughter’s hand

The superintendent, who was pushed away by a father to prevent him from shaking his daughter’s hand during a high school graduation, has filed for a restraining order against the parent.

The shocking moment took place during the Baraboo High School graduation ceremony in Wisconsin on Friday when the father stormed the stage and pushed the superintendent out of the way, yelling, “I don’t want her touching him.”

Footage of the graduation captures last week’s incident, showing the man, whose identity has not been reported to protect his daughter, walking onto the stage as his daughter shook school officials’ hands.

As she approached Superintendent Rainey Briggs, who is Black, the man jumped on stage, grabbed the superintendent by his arm, and dragged him away from his daughter.

“That’s my daughter,” the man says, according to the ceremony footage.

“You better get up off me, man,” Briggs, who was hired in 2021, can be heard replying, as they went out of shot of the camera.

Briggs is now seeking a restraining order against the parent. According to Wisconsin News, a temporary order was filed Monday, with Dane County Circuit Judge Nia Trammell ordering the man to have no contact with Briggs pending a hearing on 14 June.

In the restraining order obtained by WMTV, Briggs wrote that the man “put both of his hands on me to push me out of the way”.

He wrote that the father then said, “You are not going to touch my (expletive) daughter.”

Briggs wrote that he then “created space” and told the parent to “get your hands off me”.

The father “began to push and pry at me, and I again put my hands out”, he added, saying it took place in front of two to three thousand people.

Three Baraboo police officers, including the school resource officer, were part of a group that intervened in the situation, local outlet WiscNews. Officers then escorted the father off the school property.

The father has been referred by the Baraboo School District for disorderly conduct to the Sauk County District Attorney’s Office, the outlet said.

“We would like to emphasize that the safety and wellbeing of our students, staff, and community members is a top priority,” Baraboo School District spokesperson Hailey Wagner said in a statement.

School officials can be seen in the video running after the man and Briggs, as a woman attempts to quiet the crowd of students as “boos” come for the crowd.

In a statement to Wisconsin News, the Baraboo School Board said in part that they do not condone “engaging in threatening, intimidating, or physically harming behaviors against anyone in our School District community.

“No employee of the School District of Baraboo should fear for their physical safety when fulfilling their job duties or at any other time,” they added.

The reaction to the incident has sparked outrage on social media, condemning the father for his behavior.

Wisconsin representative Francesca Hong wrote on X that “Dr Briggs is an excellent superintendent who cares deeply about the well-being of all students in the Baraboo District.”

“No one should have to endure this type of gross & racist conduct,” she said, adding that it was “selfish of this dad to take away what should have been a day of celebration from his child”.

The high school has attracted several national headlines before this incident, as in 2018, a photo emerged depicting several current and former students doing the Nazi salute.

One boy in the front row can also be seen forming his index finger and thumb into an “OK” sign, a symbol co-opted by followers of far-right and white supremacist movements.

The image was taken ahead of their junior prom and was not affiliated with the school or school district.

“The photo of students posted to #BarabooProud is not reflective of the educational values and beliefs of the School District of Baraboo,” Lori Mueller, the district’s superintendent at the time, told The Independent in 2018. “We are investigating and will pursue any and all available and appropriate actions, including legal, to address.”