Wahpeton School District Superintendent Rick Jacobson, as well as Wahpeton Elementary School principal Jake Dodge and David Woods II, took part in a press conference Monday to address the recent incident involving a Wahpeton Middle School teacher and students discussing the George Floyd murder trial.

Jacobson said an event happened in the classroom with 5th grade teacher Barb Michelson and several students talking about the trial and the guilty verdict for former officer Derek Chauvin. He added it could have been a teachable moment if things were done in a different manor.

At one point a student or students laid on the floor with their hands behind their back to feel what it was like. Jacobson said at no point was anyone on top of the students or had a knee to the neck, such as that of the video that captured the event last year in Minneapolis.

Dodge said the students were then asked to stand up and check their pulse to see the possible effects of breathing after being in that position and then the discussion and action concluded.

Jacobson said in interviews with the students involved that some thought the event was helpful while some were uncomfortable and it is never the school’s intent to make kids feel uncomfortable in a learning environment.

Dodge said the investigation into the incident happened a day after it occurred.

Jacobson offered no additional information or disciplinary action against Michelson, whom Jacobson said was a well-respected veteran teacher within the school system, and Jacobson and Dodge did not take questions for the media after the press conference.