A Youtube site identified as TheLAXTeaParty posted nearly eight minutes of audio attributed to Sparta High School English teacher Jamie Okusko. The audio, presented in three segments, records Okusko making pointed political statements during what appears to be a regular classroom session.

Sparta Superintendent Dr Amy Van Deuren released a statement saying the district “has become aware of potentially inappropriate comments a staff member made during high school classes.”

Van Deuren confirmed Wednesday that Okusko is on leave and that the district is trying to ascertain if she violated any school district policies.

One of Okusko’s most biting criticisms involved the neighboring Tomah Area School District. She said the district exercised bad judgment in scheduling a combined homecoming/prom during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Here’s stupid for you: Tomah, who has more cases than anybody — jackwagons — they’re actually sponsoring a homecoming and prom combined,” Okusko is recorded saying. “I’m sorry — did someone say, ‘Google search for moron?’”

Tomah Superintendent Dr. Mike Hanson said Wednesday that the Tomah School Board approved an in-person prom during its regular March 15 meeting. He said the prom will be held May 15 in a covered, open-air facility where the high school hockey team played before moving to an indoor rink.

Hanson said students will sign up in groups of 12 and be assigned to a specific marked pod. Individually wrapped snacks will be available at each table within the pod.

“Masks are mandatory as they have been in the district since September,” Hanson said.

Okusko also questioned Sparta’s decision to play interscholastic sports.

“All I can sit here and think about are those poor little eight-year-olds ... those 9, 10-year-olds who need to be in school, but they can’t be. Why? ‘Cause the high schoolers have to have their sports,” she said.

Okusko waded into national politics and occasionally sprinkled her comments with mild profanity. She said white men no longer feel “special” because minorities and women won the vote.

“The world is full of minorities,” Okusko said. “White men just don’t realize they’re a minority, or maybe they have and it upsets them.”

She said straight people feel threatened by same-sex marriage because “it’s not something that’s just theirs anymore.”

On Republicans, Okusko said if a voting district “is predominantly uneducated, lower-class, poverty, ironically they will vote Republican.”

Supporters of Okusko have come to her defense. An online petition organized by a former student of Okusko calls the audio a “smear campaign” and asks people to “support her during this unnecessary situation.”

Van Deuren’s statement says the district hasn’t “reached a conclusion or made any final judgments.”

“We do want to emphasize that any statements that have been publicly shared and attributed to the teacher under investigation in this matter are the teacher’s personal viewpoints,” the statement reads. “As such, they do not reflect the viewpoints of the Sparta Area School District.”

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