Margaret Gieszinger (Photo: Tulare County Sheriff's Department) 
 
 A Visalia teacher has been arrested after an Instagram video showed her appearing to forcibly chop off at least one student's hair while belting out the National Anthem in her classroom. 
 
 College of the Sequoias police responded Wednesday to a University Preparatory High School classroom after reports of child endangerment involving a teacher and a "pair of scissors," said Police Chief Kevin Mizner. 
 
 Science teacher Margaret Gieszinger, 52, of Exeter, was later arrested on suspicion of felony child endangerment. Her bail was set at $100,000. 
 
 The arrest followed three videos posted to social media on Wednesday showing a student sitting in a chair at the front of the classroom as the teacher cuts off portions of the student's hair. She then tosses the chunks of hair behind her. 
 
 The Times-Delta has seen the videos but cannot publish them online at this time due to copyright concerns. 
 
 As the student attempts to get up and walk back to his desk, the teacher says, "You're not done," and motions him to sit back down. 
 
 She then chops his hair again. He again stands up and moves away from her. 
 
 Shortly after, in the video, the teacher calls out other students and then walks over to a female student. The teacher appears to grab a piece of the student's hair and attempts to snip it. 
 
 Other students then begin to scream and run out of the classroom. 
 
 The teacher continues to loudly sing as students flee. 
 
 Students at University Prep High School walk to class on Thursday, December 6, 2018. On Wednesday, a science teacher was arrested after she was recorded cutting a student's hair. (Photo: Calley Cederlof) 
 
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 "All students are safe," Principal Eric Thiessen said, Wednesday afternoon. He directed questions to the district. 
 
 Lilli Gates, one of Gieszinger's students, said the incident is out of character for the teacher. 
 
 "When everything was going on I was terrified, and I so badly wanted to blame her. I was scared she was going to come back," Gates said. "What she did to my classmates and I is inexcusable. I am not trying to make excuses for her, I simply ask everyone to reconsider how they view her. She is a loving and kind lady. She is usually all smiles and laughs. This is not the Miss G. we know and love." 
 
 Sara Rocha is a parent of a UPHS junior. Rocha's daughter is friends with a girl in Gieszinger's class. 
 
 Trouble started on Monday, Rocha said. A test went missing earlier in the week and Gieszinger's blamed students, she said. 
 
 During Monday's incident, Rocha said Gieszinger made her daughter's friend cry. Students reached out to administrators on Monday, according to Rocha. 
 
 "(Students) asked for help," she said, "but were told they had to go back to class." 
 
 A teacher at Hurley Elementary School, Rocha said she is disappointed in the administration's lack of intervention. 
 
 "We have to take it seriously when (students) come to us," she said. "We absolutely need to listen to kids. This breaks my heart." 
 
 Rocha said UPHS is a "great school" and teachers make an effort to connect with students. But, she feels more could have been done to prevent Wednesday's incident. 
 
 "I've always felt safe at UPHS," she said. "But the fact kids asked for help and didn't get it makes me really sad." 
 
 Students at University Prep High School walk class on Thursday morning. On Wednesday, a science teacher was arrested after she was recorded cutting a student's hair. (Photo: Calley Cederlof) 
 
 Police say they've completed their initial investigation into the incident and the case will soon be submitted to the Tulare County District Attorney’s Office for review. 
 
 According to Commission on Teacher Credentialing, Gieszinger's credential was suspended in 2007 and 2016. It's unclear why her credentials were suspended. The 2016 suspension lasted 14 days. The 2007 suspension lasted seven. 
 
 The 2016 credential suspension was cited as an Education Code 44421 suspension. 
 
 Education Code 44421 suspension reads: 
 
 "The Commission on Teacher Credentialing shall privately admonish, publicly reprove, revoke or suspend for immoral or unprofessional conduct, or for persistent defiance of, and refusal to obey, the laws regulating the duties of persons serving in the public school system, or for any cause that would have warranted the denial of an application for a credential or the renewal thereof, or for evident unfitness for service." 
 
 Commission on Teach Credentialing did not respond to calls before this story went to press. 
 
 According to Transparent California, a pay and pension online database, Gieszinger was previously employed by Lindsay Unified School District and Cutler-Orosi Joint Unified School District. 
 
 Both school districts did not return calls for comment. 
 
 Tulare County Office of Education, which oversees the high school, is also investigating the incident, said Rob Herman, public information officer. 
 
 After refusing to comment on the incident Wednesday, TCOE officials released a statement Thursday morning. 
 
 "The staff at University Preparatory High School and the administration at the Tulare County Office of Education are deeply concerned for the students who were subjected to the disturbing behavior in Margaret Gieszinger’s class yesterday morning," said Jim Vidak, superintendent of Tulare County schools. "To support all students on the UPHS campus today, we have sent top counselors from our mental health services program. They will continue to be available to the students as long as necessary." 
 
 Vidak added that Gieszinger will not return to her UPHS classroom and that a "highly-qualified substitute teacher" will take over for the rest of the semester. 
 
 UPHS administration will work closely with the substitute teacher until a replacement teacher is hired, Vidak said. 
 
 About 225 students are enrolled in the Tulare County Office of Education high school. 
 
 University Prep opened on the COS campus in 2009. 
 
 More: What prompted a Tulare County student to attack school staff? 
 
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 Read or Share this story: https://www.visaliatimesdelta.com/story/news/2018/12/05/visalia-teacher-sings-anthem-chops-students-hair/2218275002/ ||||| A Visalia high school teacher is in jail after forcibly cutting a student's hair in class. Video surfaced Wednesday showing 52-year-old Margaret Gieszinger chasing students with scissors between desks while belting out the "Star Spangled Banner" at University Preparatory High School.RELATED: Boy who had hair forcibly cut 'absolutely terrified', may sue Visalia teacher, says lawyer It was first period inside Gieszinger's chemistry class and a bizarre chain of events is about to take off. Students say the teacher came into class with a pair of scissors declaring it was hair cut day."We think she's going to try to be funny and be like 'Oh did you really think I was going to cut his hair?' But she did cut a hair off, and she started singing the Star Spangled Banner and she was singing it really loudly as she ceremoniously tossed a chunk of hair behind her," said a student who wanted to remain anonymous.The student says he was sitting in the back of the classroom and ran to the main office for help."I hope I never have to see her at the school again, because I know for a fact I can never see her as a respectable authority figure in my life."The video continues to show Gieszinger grabbing at another girl's hair before everyone makes a run for it out of the classroom. Students say they don't know what triggered her behavior but say she had a similar breakdown earlier this week."I know that on Monday she had another freak out because a test was missing or something. She accused the students of taking the test."College of the Sequoias Police have since arrested Gieszinger on suspicion of corporal injury to a child. Her bail is set at $100,000.The Tulare County Office of Education has released a statement regarding the incident: ||||| VISALIA, California - A high school teacher was arrested Wednesday morning on suspicion of felony child endangerment, police say. 
 
 University Prepatory High School science teacher, Margaret Gieszinger, 52, of Exeter, was arrested at her home around noon, says the College of the Sequoias District Police Chief Kevin Mizner. 
 
 The high school is located on the community college's campus. 
 
 He says, Gieszinger allegedly told students she was giving "free haircuts," and a student thought she was joking, so he sat in her chair and she started cutting. 
 
 He told her to stop, Mizner says, but she wouldn't and the student ran out of the classroom. 
 
 Mizner says she followed the student out with scissors, other students tried to intervene, and eventually other staff got her to stop. 
 
 She stopped teaching for the day and went home, Mizner says. 
 
 Police interviewed students and watched cell phone footage of the incident and had enough cause to arrest Gieszinger at her home. 
 
 According to jail records, Gieszinger is booked into the Tulare County Adult Pre-Trial Facility and her bail is set at $100,000.
– A California teacher is behind bars with bail set at $100,000 after she allegedly followed through on what students thought was a teasing offer of "free haircuts." Police were called to Visalia's University Preparatory High School on Wednesday in response to an Instagram video that appeared to show science teacher Margaret Gieszinger using scissors to chop off a student's hair during a first-period chemistry class. Hair flew amid the teacher's loud rendition of "The Star-Spangled Banner," per the Visalia Times-Delta, which adds Gieszinger stopped the male student as he tried to get away. "You're not done," she allegedly said, and continued cutting. Gieszinger then was said to have grabbed the hair of a female student before kids screamed and ran for the classroom door. Two days earlier, Gieszinger had claimed students were responsible for a test that had gone missing, a parent tells the Times-Delta. "They asked for help from administrators on Monday but were told they had to go back to class," one parent says. One student describes the behavior as out of character for the 52-year-old teacher, later arrested at her home on suspicion of felony child endangerment, per YourCentralValley.com. "Loving and kind," she's "usually all smiles and laughs. This is not the Miss G. we know and love," the student tells the Times-Delta. But: "I hope I never have to see her at the school again," another student tells KFSN. "I can never see her as a respectable authority figure in my life." Gieszinger was handed two-week suspensions for unknown reasons in 2007 and 2016. (A Florida teacher was accused of drowning animals in class.)