Baraboo, Wisconsin, School Superintendent Rainey Briggs is seeking a restraining order against the parent who stormed the stage during last week’s Baraboo High School graduation and pushed Briggs away from his daughter before he could shake her hand.
In a temporary order filed Monday, Dane County Circuit Judge Nia Trammell ordered Matthew Eddy to have no contact with Briggs pending a hearing on June 14.
As his daughter was crossing the stage Friday, diploma in hand, Eddy jogged onto the stage and pushed Briggs away from a handshake line that included four School Board members and school Principal Steve Considine. In a video of the incident, Briggs can be heard telling the man to get away from him while a voice can be heard saying, “I don’t want her touching him.”
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Matthew Eddy, wearing hat, pushes Baraboo School Superintendent Rainey Briggs away before he can shake Eddy’s daughter’s hand during Friday’s graduation ceremony.
It’s not clear what prompted the altercation. Efforts to reach Eddy and Briggs have so far been unsuccessful.
“We value the civil discourse that allows us to have conversations about those ideas; that’s at the cornerstone of our democracy,” the seven members of the Baraboo School Board wrote in a statement Tuesday. “As we prepare our students to engage as citizens and community members, the adults in their lives should provide models of how to engage in productive civil dialogue.
“What we do not condone is 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.”
In his restraining order, Briggs wrote that Eddy, of North Freedom, told him that he is “not going to touch my (expletive) daughter.” Briggs wrote that he then “created space” and told Eddy to get away from him.
Three Baraboo police officers sprang to the stage and escorted Eddy out of the school following the incident. He has been cited for disorderly conduct, a municipal ordinance violation, while possible charges are pending with the Sauk County District Attorney’s Office
The incident follows turmoil within the district between a group of residents and Briggs, other administrators, and the School Board, and a recall effort against School Board President Kevin Vodak.
Critics have accused Vodak of favoritism toward the administration, providing inadequate pay and administrative support for teachers, and unfairly firing the former Jack Young Middle School principal, Abby Alt, and school resource officer, Amanda Sabol, among others.
Other complaints include contracts consulting firms belonging to Briggs and one of his associates in 2021 and 2024, salaries for administrators, including Briggs and business director Yvette Updike, student behavior issues, and high staff turnover during the superintendent’s tenure.
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