Who is Patricia Schmidt? Florida teacher calls mom 'White trash', her kids 'half breeds' in video
A Florida teacher who was caught on camera hurling racist insults at a mother and her children for using a walkway near her house has reportedly been placed on administrative leave by the Collier County School District.
Patricia Schmidt is employed as an Exceptional Student Education (ESE) Specialist at Lely Elementary School, according to CCPS' staff email directory. She was caught on video on Saturday, August 14, driving a Mercedes-Benz in the Kings Lake neighborhood of Naples and calling a woman "White trash" while referring to her children as "mulattos" and "half-breeds." She also said, "your son must be special ed. He’s a r****d. Your son is a r****d.” Neighbors have dubbed Schmidt the 'Kings Lake Karen.'
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The child's mother, who spoke to NBC 2 on condition of anonymity, said it all started when she and her kids were approaching a walking path designated for residents along Kings Lake Blvd. “She blares on her horn for like ten seconds, rolls her window down, and starts yelling out the window that we can’t walk down that pathway,” she said.
The mother said they were on a public sidewalk, but Schmidt believed they were trespassing. The latter was subsequently seen hurling racist insults directed at the family. "Did you pay for that path? You can't afford to live in Kings Lake. You're White trash!" Schmidt was heard screaming in the video. "Are those your mulatto kids? Did you have sex with a Black guy? Your kids are half-breeds, look at them."
After NBC 2 revealed to the mother where Schmidt was employed, she reportedly commented, "Who knows how she’s treating them in the classroom when their parents aren’t there to defend them?”
Neighbors told the station that the woman had made it her life's mission to guard her property and a walking path, which has a sign indicating it's meant for Kings Lake residents only. Another mother revealed that earlier this year, Schmidt yelled at her 8-year-old bi-racial foster son, who suffers from PTSD. "It made me incredibly angry for sure. I think she specifically targets kids," she told NBC 2.
According to the station, the woman has been dubbed by neighbors as the "Kings Lake Karen." Her residential property is reportedly full of flags with middle fingers and profanities, including a couple of no trespassing and surveillance camera warnings.
"She's just appointed herself the bridge troll of that little stretch of property," one person told NBC 2 on condition of anonymity. "She wants to know who they are, where they live, and has no problems telling them where to go," neighbor John Courtwright said added. "If she's terrorizing people in her car now, where's it got to go before they do something? Somebody's going to get hurt," another neighbor Douglas Rankin chimed in.
As the Collier County School District reviewed video footage from the most recent incident, Schmidt's neighbors told the station that they "just want peace."