Science Teacher on Leave After Greta Thunberg Comment

Matt Baish is a science teacher at Iowa's Waterloo West High School, but he apparently doesn't like the science that Greta Thunberg is promoting—and he's now been placed on administrative leave over an online comment. The Des Moines Register reports that, in advance of a visit Friday from the Swedish teen activist to Iowa City, a local magazine put up a post on Facebook promoting the event, asking, "Who's all going?" The response from Baish that now has him in hot water, his spelling intact: "Dont have my sniper rifle." The Register notes both his comment and his personal Facebook page appear to have been taken down, though a screenshot on the school district's Facebook page is available.

"This is unacceptable!" one commenter noted on the page. "Resignation time," posted another. KWWL reports some came to Baish's defense, saying he was just being "sarcastic." The school district responded on Friday. "We are aware of a social media situation involving one of our employees," it said in a statement. "The nature of the content shared rose to the level of putting this employee on administrative leave pending an investigation. We appreciate your patience as we sort through the details and thank you for respecting the process." Per KCRG, Iowa City police had planned to have extra security at Friday's event with Thunberg. (More Greta Thunberg stories.)