>

Really having a tough time wrapping my head around this. It’s one of those things that takes a large amount of monumental fuck ups for this to happen. How bad will a this kids life that he’s capable of pre meditated murder that was extremely thought out at 6 years old? I’m assuming most 6 year olds couldn’t heist a box of Oreos from a snack cabinet yet this kid was able to get a gun and conceal it and bring it to school and take aim and shoot a teacher.
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. >

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. >

Y'know, I was scrolling the comments in this thread to see if any of my fellow locals might have popped up in here. Or to see if anyone was trying to shit on Hampton Roads (because we don't deserve it for this - it's a pretty nice metro area). And I find this comment, shitting on my previous state.
…and I can't argue with you. ;-)
Especially since I was in the panhandle. heh >

What I don't understand is why these adults who knew the kid had a gun and was threatening people with it just told the administration about it instead of calling the cops >

I imagine that the teachers believed the administration were the proper conduits for contacting the police.
In my office, our safety training repeatedly tells us to contact site security in the event of anything suspicious or dangerous.  If I saw a gun on site, I too would likely tell my administration about it first and foremost, assuming that they would send in proper authority response. >

That's fucking stupid. I'm sorry but if you see a kid with a gun you should take immediate action, and if you can't get site security or administration to do anything you should call the police, and not just shrug and say "rules are rules, I guess this kid can shoot people now". 
It is ABSOLUTLEY the administration/site security's fault for not taking action, but hiding behind the rules if someone ends up getting shot is insane. >

None of these people SAW the gun themselves, according to the story. >

I wish more schools had balls to kick out students temporarily or permanently. BUT BUT I PAY SCHOOL TAXES?!?!?! You must accept my student! No. 1 student messing up an entire classroom from learning is unacceptable. If you're taking the tax stance it's 30 other student's parents paying taxes against you.
A lot of people complain about School Resource Officers, but if teachers, principals can't do anything; you need a parent or SRO to physically calm down or remove a student these days. Crazy times. Too much parenting responsibility is put on schools. >

So if you go to a therapist and tell them about child abuse, the therapist can be held legally liable for not reporting it. 
But if a teacher goes to an administrator about a child having a gun, and the administrators do nothing, how are they not personally liable??? What are you actually doing if you aren’t ensuring the safety of the school? >

Shooter’s parents:  He has a disability and always has  one parent accompany him in his classes.  Except, the week he shot the teacher, that was his first time without a parent in class.
How convenient. >


The kid said that he wanted to set a teacher on fire and watch her die.
The kid, at 6, managed to get a gun that was supposed to be in a lockbox 6ft high from the parents
Kid managed to bring it to school, unsupervised
Parents have to physically be with the kid and magically were not on that day for some reason
The kid threaten multiple times with the gun and none of the staff did anything, called the police, etc.
Nobody took the gun away and the higher-ups told them that to "wait until the end of the day."

It looks like everyone failed but the teacher. I don't understand this. >

in 1999 I was in 4th grade, we made folded notebook paper "guns" and played on the playground cops and robber / cowboys and indians / what have you. Literally running around going "bang bang" and dramatically falling over.
A teacher stopped us, confiscated all the paper 'guns' and informed us we would be in trouble and were not allowed to play in the playground for the rest of the week.
I was so confused and did not understand the issue. It was only until later I realized, that Columbine happened that year, and so teachers were extremely vigilant about making sure kids weren't reenacting or referencing it. Though it wasn't explained to us. We simply got in trouble and had our toys taken away. >

I have so many questions. Let’s start with why the parents would have to be in school with him? If the situation is that severe, that child needed to be in a special School setting. Starting with just that fact, we know admin had no respect for the other children in the class. It goes downhill from there. >

I don't understand this whole situation. The student should have an IEP to require 1:1 supervision if he needs it. It doesn't make sense that the parents would be the ones to do that. >

In our district EA’s make $15/hour which isn’t a living wage here, so there’s always a shortage of aides. Even when kids have this in their IEP’s it often takes a long time for the position to get filled (if it ever does.) >

My mom, a teacher, was threatened by a student. He was arrested and sent to juvenile hall. They said once he is released he would return to her class. My mom asked the principal to please not allow him back in her class. That was denied. My mom then retired early due to her safety not being taken seriously. >

Dude I work with took his 8 year old son with behavior problems bad enough he had to change schools to a shooting range for his birthday a few weeks ago. I didn't say anything because it's none of my fucking business, but I sure did think some things. >


When another employee who had heard the boy might have a gun asked an administrator to search the boy, he was turned down, Toscano said. “He was told to wait the situation out because the school day was almost over,” she said.

Did they ask the mayor from Jaws? What in the actual fuck? >

Parent owner of that gun needs to go to jail. At least 90 days. Or weekends for a year. 
Just careless. 6ft. Like that matters. How does that kid even know there is a gun in the house. 
Losers whose shit gets other people hurt. >

Trash parents, trash administrators, trash school system and trash society that normalizes gun violence....we obviously just need everyone to have a gun. If that teacher had been armed there would be one less violent offender to prowl our streets in the future!  Yes, this post is all sarcasm and disgust at us....all of us. >

So what we're discovering is that the vast majority of school administrators are completely fucking useless and have no business doing the job? Man, it's almost like this is something teachers have known and been saying for a long, long time now. Sadly with things like this it takes someone nearly getting killed by their negligence and incompetence to get national attention.
Edit: Before anyone gets bitchy at my generalization and says, "I'm an administrator at a school and I'm great at my job," or "I know school administrators and they're great at their job," every teacher I know, and I know around a dozen, complain about their administrative staff, and this is at probably four different school districts. I know two people who are college professors and, guess what? Same thing, only their complaints deal more with the university having way too many administrators and they are vastly overpaid, but still. Just about every field nowadays is bloated with useless god damn administrators, and this is the kind of shit you get when that happens. Massive oversights, those administrators having zero empathy for people actually doing the job, and just general incompetence. And it took a teacher being nearly killed by a six year old with a gun for people to start taking notice. >

Largely agreed, just that too many bosses that make too much money is common across almost all industries. But in education with typically very limited budgets using public money, instead of that problem trickling down to employees making less, it continues to trickle down more to hurting children's education and doing wider damage to our entire society. >

I work in social services for a non-profit and it is basically the same here. We have way, way too administrators who do next to nothing yet they make more money than the front line folks doing the actual work that our company is known for. >

Sorry, if you need a parent to control the child and be at their side then the child needs to be home schooled. Plenty of people do it currently and this reduces resources which are scarce. Parent can be provided assistance in how to teach at home. >

I work occasionally with a student who has regular violent outbreaks that are particularly targeted toward other students. He's big/strong enough to leave dents in things.  The official behavior plan is to have staff clear the room (all other students go into the hallway or another room) and call admin to handle it.  There is apparently no option for homebound learning, alternate behavior-based programs, etc.  Admin say they're TRYING to find placement for him in an emotional-behavior program but he has other disabilities that make it hard to find a good 1:1 in that environment plus ... etc etc etc.  The kid's smart enough when he engages, but he's given little incentive or reason to participate/engage.  It's really disconnected, disjointed learning and he's not benefitting and neither is anyone else.  Social, great sure yes, language a little but... >

I hope the other 6 year old who was shown the weapon on the playground and threatened also sues the district for gross negligence, emotional trauma, and threat of bodily harm >

As a teacher, this is all very unsurprising. Nothing ever happens unless a threat is followed through. No matter how many warnings we give admin, if there isn’t evidence of anything happening, they will not act. Also, as a special education teacher, I cannot even IMAGINE the behaviors this student had to be displaying for the teacher and school to agree to a plan involving one of his parents attending school with him daily. >

I'm honestly not surprised. I graduated high school in 2010, and I remember numerous times when school administrators blatantly ignored cases of bullying (even teachers.) It's not a 1:1 comparison, but I have historically had little faith in America's school systems. >

This whole situation is so surreal. Sometimes it feels like it could only play out like this in the United States. >

Because it could only play out like this in the United States >

Hope the school district and the parents get fucked in court. >

If he had a phone and was playing with it, it would have probably been confiscated. Why would no one remove a gun from a 6 year old?? Anyone could overpower him. Why would anyone need to be notified first before doing it. Remove it, call the parents, call the cops. >


“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.
Shortly after 1 p.m., another teacher told an administrator that a different student who was “crying and fearful” said the boy showed him the gun during recess and threatened to shoot him if he told anyone. Again, no action was taken, she said.

Zero tolerance, my ass.
Zero critical thinking. Zero responsibility. Zero effort. That's all it's always been. >

The school board is going to meet and discuss a separation agreement and severance package for the school superintendent!?
Why do I think this will not be fired immediately for cause and paid for the last day worked? If the superintendent knew about this kid's threatening to beat up other students and even just claiming to have a gun yet did not react immediately, how can there be any other result? If the superintendent was never informed, then he can't be blamed. Or there were no protocols for what to do, but that would already be gross negligence. Welcome to gun-totin' America. It isn't like this is new and unexpected. >

Are the teachers not allowed to call the police/deal with the situation themselves without calling the administration? This seems like a potential life threatening situation where immediate action is warranted. >

I would bet there is a protocol in place where the admin is alerted before any such call is placed to keep the school from looking bad. >

Doesn’t seem like it worked too well, they certainly look bad now. >

Congrats Ms. Z. You now own a school district. >

And the admins are the ones who collect the largest salaries. I don't think we're getting our money's worth. >

This makes zero sense. 
I wonder if the kid chronically misbehaved, so people at the school eventually stopped caring about his actions. 
Another article said the kid usually had a parent with him in class to keep him under control. >

Read the article if you haven't it's even wilder than the headline implies >

Who in their right mind plays down a gun threat at school in todays America >

Man, I’d love to see what their district emails have looked like lately. >

Was out-of-district (specialized schooling) recommended by the school district but rejected by the parents? We will probably never know. But one thing for sure, this student needed to not be in that classroom with his parents (!?) doing the job of a specialized classroom aide.
What on earth did his IEP say, and what kinds of accommodations were rejected by the parents? That poor teacher had no back-up with weak school administrators and parents who (probably?) denied the seriousness of their child’s mental issues. >

My wife teaches 1st grade. In her school, even a hint that a student had a gun the classroom would be evacuated, the kid pulled into the office, the school on lockdown and the police called immediately.
This is unconscionable. >

Apparently the administration of this school has been questionable in the past by allowing a parent to stay with the student during class, something that I’ve never heard of. This case is a slam dunk for the defense and I doubt that it will even go to trial considering the gross incompetence of the school staff. Reward the teacher several millions of dollars and let her do something else with her life because I don’t think she’ll want to go back to the classroom! >

Also, the superintendent resigned today.
My wife is a teacher in the same city and it's real fucked this is what it took for change to come.
Unfortunately, it's not going to change that our school board is completely unqualified and hired him in the first place.
Get involved in your local politics, people! This is what happens when citizens become ostracized and lazy. >

I hope to God no jury falls for this as a defense for the parents. The parents are 100% culpable at the very least for failing to properly secure a firearm (a class 1 misdemeanor in the state of Virginia) and are likely civilly liable. Obviously, the parents are grossly negligent and I hope CPS is involved. They knew the child was suffering from mental illness, knew that they had to be at school with their child per the IEP (which was shoddy to begin with), and they CHOSE to not be there and to leave the firearm where he could access it. That child deserves better and the parents deserve to be sued until the cows come home. >

My mother is a teacher in a nearby school district and has a bunch of teacher friends with thirdhand connections to the teacher that was shot. 
I have heard a lot of rumors from my mom since this happened. A lot of them I didn’t believe because I thought they were quite out there. 
So far, the news has confirmed all the rumors I’ve heard as being true. Many were confirmed in a private meeting for the parents the local news got a recording of. 
However, the news that another student reported the shooter as having a gun and they ignored it is worse than any of the rumors I’ve heard about it. 
The teachers in the area are all unhappy with the actions of the administrators and many I know are saying if they were at a school where something similar happened they’d all quit because of distrust of the administration. >

Few years ago I had a student in grade 4 that just made me VERY uncomfortable. I had taught self contained ESE and been hit, spit on, bitten etc but this kid was in general Ed and very smart but something was very off
When he started making vague threats of course I went to admin and they made him carry a clear backpack the remainder of the year
Next school year, they all “forgot”, no one was checking his shit or following up; we weren’t a month into the school year when he pulled a gun out and pointed it in a classmates face.
So yeah haha >

"Later in the day, the school board voted to fire school district superintendent George Parker III as part of a separation agreement that will pay Parker a little over $502,000 in severance — two years of his current base salary of $251,000. Parker has been sharply criticized by parents and teachers since the Jan. 6 shooting."
This is f-up >

Fun fact. Teachers get in trouble for searching students possession. We are supposed to call for admin. I do it anyway because fuck that, my safety comes first. >

So basically from everything I am reading on this sub
The district knew he was a huge threat to the point they required the parents to attend school with the kid 
Which by the way I am not sure that is even accurate 
I teach in ny and no matter how horrible a student is parents are never allowed to sit in a classroom 
So if that was remotely true than the classroom teacher who was shot has a huge lawsuit against the district >

"Later in the day, the school board voted to fire school district superintendent George Parker III as part of a separation agreement that will pay Parker a little over $502,000 in severance" So the superintendent just made half a million for fucking up >

America, where you get arrested for eating pop tarts into gun shapes but no one bats an eye when you threatened to kill your teacher >

Ya know, everyone talks about how we need this legislation or that ban but no one talks about one simple thing. Time and time again there have been warning signs after warning signs that something like this would happen. Administrators, the police, the FBI have been told in multiple of these shootings situations that something was wrong beforehand and they’ve done nothing.
We should be talking more about how these people in power are doing nothing instead of yelling at each other about what would or wouldn’t work. Let’s start taking action when someone reports something like this and holding these people in power accountable. No legislation needed and so many of these shootings wouldn’t have happened. >

I wrote up three kids the other day for being a safety issue during a lockdown and they got a warning. I don't feel safe. Actions don't have consequences in educating anymore and the superintendent is getting a severance package over this. >

Code of conducts are so weak in every district, the admin probably can’t do shit. Note: I am a teacher in Baltimore city, weapons are common in schools and they can’t do shit about it >

Yeah, obviously the gun was not "secured", have the parents been arrested and charged yet? >

We need a countrywide teacher strike! >

This story keels getting worse. It started out horrible. 
First it was: How did a 6 year old get a gun and intentionally shoot his teacher?
Then it was: "A school administrator knew about the gun
Then it was: Parents "Our son is disabled, on a Care plan that mandates one of us to be with him but for some reason we didn't that day. Also we don't know how he got access to our gun"
And now it's: Multiple Administrators knew about the gun >

When I was in 4th grade I went to 2 teachers because a kid brought a knife to school and was talking about stabbing people. I ended up in the principal’s office because I thought they wanted me to tell her so she could do something. Instead of them doing anything about it I had to write “I will not lie to my teachers” fifty times and hand it to the principal before I could leave the office. 
Glad to see the only thing that has changed in 20 fucking years is that now they are ignoring guns instead of knives.