A former Jefferson County Public Schools principal is facing a new lawsuit after allegedly threatening 7-year-old students with a toy gun more than five years ago.
The lawsuit accuses Duan Wright, 46, of Louisville, of threatening two second-grade students with a gun at Harstern Elementary School in 2019. He allegedly removed the gun from his desk drawer and threatened them, saying “If you don’t get it together, I’m going to feed you to the wolves” after they were sent to his office for disrupting class.
Separate records show Wright had a history of aggressive behavior during his tenure with the district, including punching, grabbing and dragging students and threatening both children and teachers.
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Wright is also undergoing court proceedings for another case, filed in 2022, where he allegedly assaulted a 10-year-old special needs student, the student’s mother and a teacher at the school. He is accused of refusing the student his accommodations throughout the 2022-2023 academic year and assaulting him after he began crying in his Hartstern Elementary library class.
Wright called the student’s mother, saying he grabbed the student due to a “safety issue” created and would not let the student’s mother into the building when she arrived. Court records state the argument escalated to an assault where Wright put his hands on both the student’s mother and a teacher who’d run outside to help her.
Documents show Wright had been investigated at least six times by JCPS before the incident and the Educational Professional Standards Board also investigated him for educator misconduct.
He was terminated from JCPS in March 2024, JCPS spokesperson Carolyn Callahan said.
This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Ex-JCPS principal sued for allegedly pulling toy gun on students