>

Protip for Florida teachers. Claim the kid has a book instead of a gun and the administration will bring out the SWAT team in minutes.
It's one thing to say "well he has a gun so we gotta be careful about how we approach this". It's another thing entirely to ignore it and wait for the school day to end first. Especially when the student had threatened others multiple times. This isn't incompetence, this is negligence. >

The weird thing is, you'd think administration would be highly motivated to find the gun. Besides the obvious safety issue (which should have been enough), bringing a weapon to school is one of the few things you can expel a student with a disability for without going through all the procedures that are usually in place to protect disabled students. It basically would have been a free pass to get rid of this kid. You'd think the crass motivation to offload a problem student would have gotten them to act, even if protecting elementary schoolers/staff from being shot wasn't enough. >

So, this is how you know this administration didn't know what the fuck they were doing when it come to this kid:

The family also said in its statement that the boy has an “acute disability” and was under a care plan “that included his mother or father attending school with him and accompanying him to class every day.” The week of the shooting was the first when a parent was not in class with him, the family said.

My mom and sister are both SPED teachers, my sister in particular is an adaptive curriculum specialist, and I can tell you just from my casual exposure to their work and in no uncertain terms that "a parent needs to tag along with him" is NOT an acceptable behavioral modification plan for a kid that's this unhinged. Full stop. No teacher or administrator should ever think that such a step is going to work long-term. Seems pretty fucking clear from what we know at this point that they didn't want to do what needed to be done with him, which was force him into some sort of adaptive learning environment properly equipped to handle a kid as awful as this one--i.e., alternative schooling. This sounds like an especially deadly mix of apathy and negligence, and it is truly a goddamn miracle he didn't shoot a classmate. >

Right?! I've got 16 years of experience with mostly "bad kids" with severely traumatic home lives and various disabilities. A few have a legally-mandated 1on1 paraprofessional who is trained to deescalate and teach coping skills. 
We might invite a parent to passively observe their child a few times to "see for yourself" but in no way would they be permitted to or asked to follow the child to every class as a behavioral solution. Shit's bonkers. >

I would quit if I had a student with that accommodation. >

My sister said exactly the same thing over the phone just a little while ago. "I would walk away that day from any job where that went down on the IEP." >

To be fair, I fear my walkout will be any day now. I love my students, and the feeling is mutual. I love teaching. But the environment is maddening and the laws they are proposing in Indiana are atrocious. The latest one is that administrators will not have to discuss classroom issues with teachers or the union. This includes class size and problematic behaviors. If it passes, I am gone. >

The politics surrounding education makes me wonder how to approach my son's education. He's barely 7 weeks old, so it's still a while but I'm not sure if the arbitrary restrictions, inefficient administration, high level apathy and educator burnout will get any better by the time he enters school. >

Vote and advocate now for who will actually make schools better. Hopefully, they will be by the time your little one gets there. >

Also, at least in my case, pull zero punches when it comes to private schools. I am in Iowa where Republicans are fucking over the state and happen to have Learning Disabilities, have ADHD, and needed the Special Education that only public schools are required to have. If I didn't have those I would probably be dead or on drugs or in jail. Private Charter Schools aren't required to help kids like me. >

The teacher is unsurprisingly suing the district. >

In a just world, the compensation would come out of the paychecks of every single one of the administrators who failed to act, instead of the taxpayer. 
Because it will be the kids and the rest of the teachers who end up indirectly footing the bill, and that sucks. >

Don’t forget the “acutely disabled” child’s (who apparently needed a parent present at school but surprise surprise was left alone) obnoxious parents with their “secured” firearm. >

Yeah secured does not mean on a shelf thats 6 foot tall with a trigger lock.  According to the article this was the first week his parents didn't accompany the kid to school.  Maybe its just me but you would think there would be extra eyes on that kid given the circumstances.  And you would want to try to intervene earlier if something was possibly going wrong.
I know I shouldn't say anything without knowing the nature of the disability.  But I would either take extra care to ensure my disabled child could access a firearm.  Or just not have one in the house.  Hell even a non disabled child there should be a safe or something.  Not just chillin on a shelf. >

I’d go as far to argue that if a child has such behavioral issues that they’re required to have a parent present at school…maybe they should be enrolled in a school that’s more specialized to deal with that. 
I went to a public school with some students with behavioral issues but have never heard of a situation where any student’s parents are required to be at school with them. >

Agreed. The law requires kids to be mainstreamed as much as possible, but when a kid can’t get through the day without the constant presence of a parent, it’s hard to say they’re ready to be mainstreamed. >

I went to public school in TN and my brother had some issues. It was common practice then that students who couldn’t be in the mainstream classes due to behavior would be “homebound.” My bro had a teacher come to the house a couple afternoons a week, drop off and review work he had done, and that was that. Granted he was in high school at this point. >

The "special" kids at my high school had their own wing just for themselves. >

Ours had dedicated classes but all were mixed together whether the issue was learning or behavioral issues. That definitely impacted the well behaved students who just needed extra assistance on coursework negatively >

That’s horrible! It’s like telling the kids with learning disabilities “having trouble reading
means you’re bad and need to be away from the rest of the other students” and telling the bad kids “just btw we not only think you’re bad, we also think you’re stupid.” >

Here’s the part about the search and threats. Sounds like administration had every opportunity to prevent this but did literally nothing, the search they keep touting happened wasn’t even done by them:

She said that around 12:30 p.m., one teacher told administrators that she had taken it upon herself to search the boy’s bookbag but warned that she thought he had the gun in his pocket. Toscano said that after 1 p.m., another boy told his teacher that the student had shown him the gun and threatened to shoot him, and that the teacher reported that to administrators.
Another employee later asked for permission to search the boy after hearing about the gun but “was told to wait the situation out because the school day was almost over,” Toscano said. >

Oh jesus. What kind of a MESSED UP 6 year old boy brings a gun and threatens to shoot someone with it?
Parents are fucked in the head here. That kid needs to be taken away for the good of society AND for the kid. >

The article said this was the first week the kid hadn’t had a parent with them all day at school as per a special education plan. Schools are especially bad with special needs children and they probably shouldn’t have had the kid in the class in the first place. Parents are definitely to blame for access to the weapon, but there may be more going on with that kid than bad parenting. >

If a kids parent has to sit with him in class every day, that kid absolutely does not belong in a regular classroom. >

That's a hard truth that some people refuse to wake up to.  There are kids who have zero place in classrooms.  "Accommodations" be damned.  If my child is treated like a minimum security inmate because we've removed all accountability and failure, then academia will continue with its death-spiral while the "haves" send their kids to private school.
I remember zero-tolerance hysteria post Columbine where drawing a gun would get you expelled for the remainder of the school year.  Now administrators will ignore MULTIPLE faculty members. >

yeah, as someone who attended a special needs school, there's even a extreme special needs group that should never been on school property in the first place. why? unable to understand anything beyond the basics, being violent, sexually harassing girls, or plainly not there in mind or body. in this cases most of the time it's because they're being violent or just bothering others like regularly pulling girls hair and giggling about it and keep doing it despite being told no. >

I used to pull security footage for my district.  I witnessed a repeat sexual assailant.  The assailant was back in the classroom in minutes.  The victims were often out for days or weeks with emotional damage.
I quit academia when I read a story about a shooting and asked myself, "well did the victim deserve it?".
I knew it was a bad headspace.  I knew if I saw that perp get shot I'd let them bleed. >

while we have nothing that extreme like raping, the strictly one on one IEP usually is because the person would beat someone up or go in girls bathroom to peep on them or just harassing to outright assaulting people that were likely innocent and being there on a wrong time and day. more often than not those extreme special needs ends up in a group home in school property because clearly the parents just can't take care of them. I never like that idea, but Canada don't have much of gun problems compared to US. it would be much more terrifying if it is in US. >

Heads need to roll here. I don't think you can even call it a serious error at this point, as it's worse than that. >

The article mentions that the Board of Ed was meeting to discuss a separation and severance package for the district superintendent - so once again the person at the top who should be held responsible will get a nice payday to go quietly away. >


district superintendent

I'm not sure what they're role in this was anyways. It's not like a superintendent is at the elementary school and if these principals wouldn't even search the kid for a gun, I cannot imagine they're calling the superintendent about the issue. My guess is the superintendent didn't have a clue anything happened until the teacher was shot. I get the idea that the buck stops at the superintendent but these principals need to go way before the sup. >

iirc - that school / district had a history of complaints concerning security that were never addressed >

I worked for that district for 4 years (Yes, Kevin is a product of it).....not a single scandalous part of this case is remotely surprising to me or any of my friends who formerly/currently work for NNPS. It's had leadership issues for decades. >

Gun problems in American schools for .. I dunno .. 30 years .. and this isn’t surprising? Even the most idiot person working in a school knows to take gun threats seriously, lmao. These people need prison time just like the Uvalde pussies (yeah I know the situation is different, they’re all still pussies - and that’s a bit of an insult to pussies) >


and this isn’t surprising?

The way NNPS has historically handled things makes this result unsurprising. If a sportsbook were interested in such a morally abhorrent wager, I'd have bet the farm that a significant event like this was inevitable there. 

Even the most idiot person working in a school knows to take gun threats seriously

The district is notorious for underreporting. They'll avoid any risk of exposing lax security and safety if they get away with it. They aren't interested in safety, but just the appearance of it. >

Just go ahead and fire everyone involved. 
What an absolute joke. >

When I was a senior in HS, another student threatened to kill me, in writing, for not dating his friend and the school told me he had a right to a public education and wanted us to sit down and talk it out. I didn’t. I ended up home schooled the rest of the year. >

First, I'm sorry. 
My first year teaching high school (I was barely 22), a student told me he'd kill me last and meant it as a compliment.  I reported it to admin, and they didn't even speak to him about it. I called his father, and he told me to call his mother instead because he had a restraining order against his own kid after the teen broke his jaw. Nothing happened, and the student remained in school all 5 years I taught there. This was in the county across the river from where this shooting took place, and my high school was the school people sent their kids to live with grandma to attend to get them out of Newport News Public Schools. >

It’s hard not to get hopeless about shit. I’m so sorry. That’s terrifying. >

It was a rough 5 years. I moved and just never went back to teaching. Odd thing is, I'd likely go say hi to the guy if I went home and saw him again (and he looked stable). Administration not believing me and always looking for a way to blame teachers is why I haven't gone back. 
I'm sorry you had to switch to homeschooling, but I'm glad you could finish your year with less fear. >

Oh wow you left the professional entirely. Can’t say I blame you. 
I just waited tables full time and did my homework at the bar when it was slow so it worked out okay. I had to miss prom and all that stuff, but I didn’t really care. I was treated like I was overreacting of course.  He later shot himself. >


after 1 p.m., another boy told his teacher that the student had shown him the gun and threatened to shoot him, and that the teacher reported that to administrators.

They willfully ignored a report that another student/child had physically seen this kid in possession of a gun and had been threatened with said gun!!

the 25-year-old teacher at Richneck Elementary School plans to sue the school district over the Jan. 6 shooting,

Good!  I hope these administrators are specifically named in the lawsuit and I hope they have to pay damages so high that they have resort to selling plasma in order to eat. >

Imagine being the kid who reported it to teachers as he should have, only for them to ignore the problem. >

Reported as he should have, and after being threatened to be shot if he did. That is a brave and responsible kid! >

Sadly, as a kid, he probably assumed that telling an adult was the right/safe thing to do because they would know how to handle such a threat. 🫤 >

It almost seems like the whole of America is apathetic to the gun problem.
'Oh, kids are being killed in schools by disgruntled individuals - nothing we can really do about it because "gun rights".'
"Oh there is an active shooter in the elementary school? Nothing we can do about it because we don't have a key and the guy might shoot at us if we go in there."
"Oh, the kid might have a gun and threatened to shoot another kid? Well, it's almost happy hour. We'll just wait it out and he'll leave the property soon. " >

The administration made it sound like they searched the kids bag. Now it sounds like a teacher searched it due to the administrations lack of action. That’s insane. >

Let me get this straight. 
-The student has special needs, and a parent needs to sit with him in class. 
-Other teachers alerted school administration that the boy might have a gun.
-Mom thought he might have a gun, but did not know where it was.  It was not found in a backpack search.   
-Did they search his desk or other areas?
-They still allowed this kid to be in the class without someone sitting with him.
-The teacher got shot. 
I want to count up who should be sued.  I ran out of fingers. >

Shit if my child was in that class when this happened I'm suing too for emotional trauma. Those poor kids had to witness something that could have EASILY been avoided if the admin did their job. >

Or if the parents did theirs. I would be naming the parents right next to the school in that lawsuit. >

Right??! As if any parent worth their salt would sit beside their child, who they believed had a gun, and learn ABCs. Mind boggling. >

My daughter was a teacher, and this is precisely the level of support she received from her administration regarding violent students.  In spite of her warnings to the administration, she did not feel safe because of one or two student's threats and behaviors.  She was once attacked by a student with scissors and the child was returned to the classroom after about 30 minutes. My daughter left teaching after 5 years and hasn't looked back.  And we wonder why there is a teacher shortage. >

When I worked at a restaurant I would chat with the delivery drivers from Uber Eats and many, many of them were ex-teachers who picked up delivery bc they walked off the job. Many, many of them walked off the job bc they were attacked by a student and told to get back to work with the student in their classroom. >

Yeah during my last move one of my movers had been a teacher for 8 years before he gave up for similar reasons. Also said he made more money now 🤷‍♀️ >

Also taught for 8 years and am making more money (and feeling safer!) now >

Everyone failed that teacher, the boy's parents, the school. Administration needs to be at the very least reprimanded if not terminated and the boys parents belong in jail and the child needs extensive mental health care and should not be allowed other children. >

I would never want to work for an admin that wanted to “wait it out” when it comes to gun threats. I could never trust them again. They should be done with education. >

My wife was an 8th grade teacher, quit at the end of last year.
One of the major reasons she quit was a gun incident they had. One kid brought a gun, and one of his friends was carrying bullets. They caught the kid with the gun but because he wasn't carrying the bullets at the time they said it was unloaded and only suspended him for a week.
My wife said she didn't feel safe with this kid back in her class and filled out paperwork stating this, because that is the only way to force the administration to actually move him.
The kid threw a fit about it, and her principal told him "well its your math teacher's fault, she filled out paperwork to get you in trouble". For the rest of the year he made burner emails and instagram accounts to harass her and they wouldn't do anything about it because "we can't prove it is him".
She quit as soon as her contract ended. >

I'm a high school teacher, and I would use up the rest of my paid leave and then quit. Fuck that. I am absolutely breaking contract over that. >

The only person who did the right thing in this situation is the person who got shot. >

The kid who reported being shown the gun did the right thing also. >

That's terrifying for that little boy. And what did his parents think when he got home? Absolutely ridiculous. >

I imagine they realized how close they came to identifying their child’s body that day then had to stop themselves from breaking down in front of their 6 year old over it. 
I’d also imagine they immediately looked into homeschooling options because like hell would I be sending my baby back to that district. >

I’d be raising hell calling the school board and writing letters to the editor.  Every last one of the administrators that knew about the threats should be fired. >

They had it secured but he got the gun. It had a lock but he shot the gun.  They usually go to school with him every day but this was the one week they didn’t… yeah these parents are full of shit. >

Yeah, first the gun was in a purse, then it was “locked up”. Why was he allowed in school w/o a parent if they was the requirement? Oh, that’s right Karen (mom) would be pitching a fit if he wasn’t 🤦‍♂️ These parents are trash. >


Why was he allowed in school w/o a parent if they was the requirement?

Article says it was the first week unaccompanied. That almost certainly means this was part of his scheduled IEP plan and the parents were not meant to be there that week. >

Good point >

So to summarize: 
-parents bought/kept a gun in a house knowing they had a child with issues
-had the gun in an area without a locked door that the child knew about
-had the trigger lock key available to the child
-had a ladder available to and child
-the child used the ladder and trigger lock key to to retrieve the gun
-the parents who had a requirement to attend school daily with their child magically were not there on the day of the shooting
-administrators who knew the kid had issues and was not being supervised by his parent did not listen to any other adult or other children who made reports
The kid sucks, the parents suck, the administrators suck, the school board and superintendent suck.  I hope the teacher takes every single one of them for everything. >

That teacher should be compensated so they never have to work a day in their lives again if they so choose. The many layers of negligence here are unacceptable. >

💯 to cover no longer working at the wage of an administrator, lifetime benefits, medical care, mental health care, pain and suffering, and moving to a new area away from people that may seek retribution. >

The parents belong in jail. >

The gun was not “secured”. A six year old got access to it and shot his teacher. Parent or parents should be arrested and personally sued by that teacher for every penny they have or ever will have. >

Exactly, the gun was clearly not secured as their kid had all the tools he needed to gain access to it. They also must have taught him how to load and shoot it. >

Probably gun left loaded on kitchen table next to his Blues Clues lunch box. >

Parents claim it is was in a closet 6 feet  high and had a trigger lock that required a key. >

If they're anything like gun owners I grew up with, that key is hanging on a nail in a "hidden" spot inches away. >

‘Wait the situation out’ ? FFS! >

I've heard so many horror stories from teachers about school admin. Some Admin are so bad they probably think the teacher deserved to get shot. >

I got injured by a student.  Have sciatic nerve damage plus pinched nerves in my neck, wrist, and elbow.  Waiting on surgery for wrist and elbow.  Just had MRI on neck yesterday.  Yep, my district said I was lying about my pain and stopped all my care.  Three years later and still wandering when all this will end but know reality says it’s lifetime. >

I'm sorry that happened to you. This makes my blood boil. >

Every aspect of this story reeks of inexplicable dysfunction. >

I have immense respect for teachers. School administrators? Not so much. Essentially bureaucrats who literally cannot think in anything but rigid and predetermined ways. 
If a teacher reported a kid was brandishing a gun, anybody with the IQ of a rhesus monkey would know to take the gun from the kid immediately. Either by walking in and grabbing it or calling the cops. >

Teen girls get strip searched for vapes but they can't find a gun on a tiny 6 year old's person. Maybe he's not tiny? I dunno. >

Just how big of pockets are on tiny clothes for a little six year old? Was it a crazy miniature derringer or something? (I’m sure it wasn’t, but seriously…) >


“The administrator downplayed the report from the teacher and the possibility of a gun, saying — and I quote — ‘Well, he has little pockets,’ ” Toscano said.

Imagine a teacher under your employ nearly gets murdered on your grounds, and your excuse is "ya know, we thought about searching him, but he's 6, ya know? Look at those tiny pockets." >

Yeah, it's terrible. Some kids get in trouble for making an artistic representation of a gun and get suspended (ugh, I didn't want to use drawing in this context) and others don't even get looked at. >

I recall a pop tart being bitten into a vaguely gun like shape getting a kid suspended. >

Then there were the 2 boys suspended for playing with nerf guns on their own property which was adjacent to the bus stop. >

I would be pissed if I was that teacher. She deserves a big payout >

Jesus. My kid got written up in 1st grade for making “finger guns” when he was playing a game. WTF. >

There was also that famous pop-tart-bitten-into-a-vaguely-gun-shape incident. >

This sounds exactly like the modern administrator:
Down play, do nothing, blame everyone else for the problems that are in YOUR BUILDING! Take NO responsibility for anything and then wonder why nobody respects you.
They need to be fired or forced out of their jobs immediately. 
And yes, I just retired after teaching elementary school for 44 years. There is too much blame to go around. >


“He was told to wait the situation out because the school day was almost over,”

WWWWWOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWW
the shear amount of just pure, I dont give a fuck/ out of sight out of mind/ not my responsibility attitude in that one sentence.
Im blown away by this statement. Just fuck them kids, right!? >

Here’s the thing people keep ignoring about America. We don’t just have a gun violence issue. We have a stupidity issue. Republican education policies since the 1960s have finally caught up to us and the American population is just too fucking dumb. This is by design. This is what happens when you defund public schools and price people out of higher learning. This is what happens when you standardize tests and teach students material for a test instead of critical thinking. Someone can literally be told “that boy has a gun in their pocket” and blow it off saying “nah, he has small pockets”.
This is what happens. We need gun control, but holy fucking shit Americans desperately need better education. We are too fucking stupid. >

Hopefully these lawsuits will make administrators take teacher safety more seriously.  Apparently in the last 20 years, administrators tend to not back up their teachers for fear of potentially offending parents. >


The family’s attorney, James Ellenson, told The Associated Press thathis understanding was that the gun was in the woman’s closet on a shelfwell over 6 feet (1.8 meters) high and had a trigger lock that required akey.

I mean, obviously not dude
edited to add: In my fantasy world they attach felony charges to the owners of guns "found" by kids. Maybe they need more of an incentive to actually become the responsible gun owners we keep hearing about >

Something about the way the attorney said it's "his understanding" seems telling, like he doesn't want to state it as an actual assertion. There probably are legal repercussions to leaving it easily accessible, which is why likely the reason for the statement. >

It doesn’t matter if you “thought” your firearm was secured. It either is or it isn’t, and if a 6 year old can beat your security, it isn’t. >

It says the kid was going to school with the mom/dad and this day was the first day the mom/dad was not there with the kid. I have NEVER heard of this before. These parents need to lose 100% custody of this kid. They have raised/created a violent psychopath. This kid told another that he would shoot and kill him if he told about the gun. He needs to be in constant therapy. >

In addtion to everything else that needs to be examined with a fine toothed comb, I want this explored more.

The family also said in its statement that the boy has an “acute disability” and was under a care plan “that included his mother or father attending school with him and accompanying him to class every day.” The week of the shooting was the first when a parent was not in class with him, the family said.

So the kid who is always shadowed by one of his parents managed to shoot his teacher during the very first week he's not with them? Maybe my tinfoil hat needs adjusting, but this smells funny to me. >

That’s what I want to know - this kid apparently has some pretty severe mental issues (to the point a parent was supposed to be with him)……..and yet he was allowed in school without one 🤷‍♂️ >

You would think that if something happened that caused the parents to be unable to attend, that the child would therefore be unable to attend. >

I hope that Abigail Zwerner gets a huge settlement. I'd also like to see the mother (and father if at the house, but have only seen the mother mentioned) do some time behind bars, but not sure if that is likely. >


The family also said in its statement that the boy has an “acute disability” and was under a care plan “that included his mother or father attending school with him and accompanying him to class every day.” The week of the shooting was the first when a parent was not in class with him, the family said.

Father is involved in the child's life, whether he lives in that house, I'm unsure. >

Yall remember when elementary school students were getting suspended for finger guns and eating a pop tart to make a shape of a gun?  Now we are at this.
We need to be somewhere in the middle. >

It’s a miracle that she made it out alive and I’m not just talking about the gunshots she sustained…it could have been so, so much worse >

There are some kids with behavioral issues so serious that they should not be in a classroom
Period.  We expect the schools to handle situations they are not equipped to handle.   This kid sounds like he needs to be institutionalized for his own benefit and the safety of those around him.   He is way past just needing some additional supervision. 
I don’t know how he got that way,  but I do know it’s not the schools responsibility to straighten him out.