Teacher shot at Newport News elementary school

[Anonymous]

The school district approved metal detectors in all schools and replaced the leadership at the elementary school where the shooting occurred. I think the superintendent has been fairly transparent with families and is not hiding behind privacy - he has shared facts as they are learned and held a town hall with the school’s families.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I want to know what happened in the months before the kid shot his teacher. I'm guessing we'll never know because the school will claim "privacy issues". Too bad that his right to privacy is super important but her right to safety is....non existent.

Trust me, there were reports and reports and reports and nothing was done. This doesn’t come out of nowhere but when we as teachers report nothing happens because almost nothing can supersede a child’s right to public education until they are catastrophically violent and for smaller concerns in a lead up, admin won’t do anything but say “call home” and “document.” When she recovers she will have a massive civil suit against the district, and win, and never have to teach again.

Why people think she will be able to sue and that she can get massive amounts of money baffles me. This is workers’ comp and even if it wasn’t, there are damage caps.

Oh, yeah, no. A teacher being shot on school grounds is not merely a workman's comp issue. She'll get money there, as well probably her pay and insurance covered for the rest of the school year along with her medical bills. She'll sue the administrators and the district itself for not protecting her when they were well aware of the problem. There isn't a jury out there that wouldn't be sympathetic to her. But, I hope she goes FAR beyond suing on her own behalf. I hope she can help teachers everywhere change the IDEA laws around protecting students at all cost, including at the expense of true safety of others.

It doesn’t matter what a jury says. This is a question of law and juries don’t get to decide them. In the Commonwealth, WC, which covers medical bills and lost wages, is the exclusive legal remedy. And, while none of us will ever know due to privacy laws, the school may well have been following federal law as it relates to a child with a disability. There is evidence of some plan in that the child was moved to this school and the mother was required to walk him to class.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I want to know what happened in the months before the kid shot his teacher. I'm guessing we'll never know because the school will claim "privacy issues". Too bad that his right to privacy is super important but her right to safety is....non existent.

Trust me, there were reports and reports and reports and nothing was done. This doesn’t come out of nowhere but when we as teachers report nothing happens because almost nothing can supersede a child’s right to public education until they are catastrophically violent and for smaller concerns in a lead up, admin won’t do anything but say “call home” and “document.” When she recovers she will have a massive civil suit against the district, and win, and never have to teach again.

Why people think she will be able to sue and that she can get massive amounts of money baffles me. This is workers’ comp and even if it wasn’t, there are damage caps.

Oh, yeah, no. A teacher being shot on school grounds is not merely a workman's comp issue. She'll get money there, as well probably her pay and insurance covered for the rest of the school year along with her medical bills. She'll sue the administrators and the district itself for not protecting her when they were well aware of the problem. There isn't a jury out there that wouldn't be sympathetic to her. But, I hope she goes FAR beyond suing on her own behalf. I hope she can help teachers everywhere change the IDEA laws around protecting students at all cost, including at the expense of true safety of others.

It doesn’t matter what a jury says. This is a question of law and juries don’t get to decide them. In the Commonwealth, WC, which covers medical bills and lost wages, is the exclusive legal remedy. And, while none of us will ever know due to privacy laws, the school may well have been following federal law as it relates to a child with a disability. There is evidence of some plan in that the child was moved to this school and the mother was required to walk him to class.

I'm not sure this is true in this case. The person who searched the kid's bag needs to lose their job. The administrator who didn't protect the teacher in the first place should lose their job. The school district who ignored or didn't even ask about what was needed in this case (because this child had been problematic from the get go), the district that didn't provide a 1:1 aide for the kid? All of central office needs to lose their jobs.\

But far more important is that the law needs to change to both FUND and guarantee that all violent kids either be quickly (within days) from a gen ed setting. We very obviously need more therapeutic schools, more sped teachers. We need to be able to find, get and provide 1:1 aides for students who need it BEFORE there's an IEP in place. Kids with disabilities should absolutely be in LRE, until they threaten the safety of others. And quite honestly, once that happens, I don't particularly care where they go. Therapeutic school, psych ward, wherever. We have gone too far in protecting the needs of the tiny minority and ignored what everyone else needs.

[Anonymous]

Many posts here note a disability. What is the disability here? Where is this coming from?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Has there been any mention of punishment for the parents beyond the anemic statement I read about how they're looking into it?

I realize a 6 y.o. can't be tried but something really needs to be done with the kid. He is dangerous. I do not care what anyone says.

Is it true that the teacher was threatened by the student & the school looked the other way? Time to sue the school system.

Kids say things, even 6 year olds. Treating a threat from a 6 year old the same as a threat from a high school or middle school student is not the solution.

Do you have kids?

I mean, clearly that’s incorrect, if the kid has access to an unsecured gun in the home.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

The kids are full of rage - younger and younger.

- rage fueled by social media and violent “first person shooter” video games.

Nope. We’re not doing the whole “video games” line anymore. They are more popular in Asia than here and they don’t have shootings. Why? Because GUNS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

The kids are full of rage - younger and younger.

- rage fueled by social media and violent “first person shooter” video games.

Kids all over the world play these games. This is the only country where they bring them to life.

Except Canada.

At FAR lower rates per capita than the U.S. Quit deflecting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I want to know what happened in the months before the kid shot his teacher. I'm guessing we'll never know because the school will claim "privacy issues". Too bad that his right to privacy is super important but her right to safety is....non existent.

Trust me, there were reports and reports and reports and nothing was done. This doesn’t come out of nowhere but when we as teachers report nothing happens because almost nothing can supersede a child’s right to public education until they are catastrophically violent and for smaller concerns in a lead up, admin won’t do anything but say “call home” and “document.” When she recovers she will have a massive civil suit against the district, and win, and never have to teach again.

Why people think she will be able to sue and that she can get massive amounts of money baffles me. This is workers’ comp and even if it wasn’t, there are damage caps.

It’s a civil suit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Many posts here note a disability. What is the disability here? Where is this coming from?

Any kid who shoots a teacher on purpose has some kind of disability. It might be undiagnosed, but he has some kind of behavioral or emotional disability. Maybe ODD or conduct disorder or some mental illness or something.

It also comes from teachers, who have all had kids they know have a disability of some kind, but we get blown off. It takes years to get a kid evaluated at times OR someone has to be seriously injured, and or it takes several serious injuries to finally get a kid eval'd and helped. I have three kids in my gen ed room this year who have something very wrong with them. It'll take them bringing a weapon for anything to happen, if even then. We're over it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I want to know what happened in the months before the kid shot his teacher. I'm guessing we'll never know because the school will claim "privacy issues". Too bad that his right to privacy is super important but her right to safety is....non existent.

Trust me, there were reports and reports and reports and nothing was done. This doesn’t come out of nowhere but when we as teachers report nothing happens because almost nothing can supersede a child’s right to public education until they are catastrophically violent and for smaller concerns in a lead up, admin won’t do anything but say “call home” and “document.” When she recovers she will have a massive civil suit against the district, and win, and never have to teach again.

Why people think she will be able to sue and that she can get massive amounts of money baffles me. This is workers’ comp and even if it wasn’t, there are damage caps.

Oh, yeah, no. A teacher being shot on school grounds is not merely a workman's comp issue. She'll get money there, as well probably her pay and insurance covered for the rest of the school year along with her medical bills. She'll sue the administrators and the district itself for not protecting her when they were well aware of the problem. There isn't a jury out there that wouldn't be sympathetic to her. But, I hope she goes FAR beyond suing on her own behalf. I hope she can help teachers everywhere change the IDEA laws around protecting students at all cost, including at the expense of true safety of others.

It doesn’t matter what a jury says. This is a question of law and juries don’t get to decide them. In the Commonwealth, WC, which covers medical bills and lost wages, is the exclusive legal remedy. And, while none of us will ever know due to privacy laws, the school may well have been following federal law as it relates to a child with a disability. There is evidence of some plan in that the child was moved to this school and the mother was required to walk him to class.

I'm not sure this is true in this case. The person who searched the kid's bag needs to lose their job. The administrator who didn't protect the teacher in the first place should lose their job. The school district who ignored or didn't even ask about what was needed in this case (because this child had been problematic from the get go), the district that didn't provide a 1:1 aide for the kid? All of central office needs to lose their jobs.\

But far more important is that the law needs to change to both FUND and guarantee that all violent kids either be quickly (within days) from a gen ed setting. We very obviously need more therapeutic schools, more sped teachers. We need to be able to find, get and provide 1:1 aides for students who need it BEFORE there's an IEP in place. Kids with disabilities should absolutely be in LRE, until they threaten the safety of others. And quite honestly, once that happens, I don't particularly care where they go. Therapeutic school, psych ward, wherever. We have gone too far in protecting the needs of the tiny minority and ignored what everyone else needs.

I agree we need more therapeutic schools and 1:1 but how do we staff them? There are already the positions that sit open in public schools

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I want to know what happened in the months before the kid shot his teacher. I'm guessing we'll never know because the school will claim "privacy issues". Too bad that his right to privacy is super important but her right to safety is....non existent.

Trust me, there were reports and reports and reports and nothing was done. This doesn’t come out of nowhere but when we as teachers report nothing happens because almost nothing can supersede a child’s right to public education until they are catastrophically violent and for smaller concerns in a lead up, admin won’t do anything but say “call home” and “document.” When she recovers she will have a massive civil suit against the district, and win, and never have to teach again.

Why people think she will be able to sue and that she can get massive amounts of money baffles me. This is workers’ comp and even if it wasn’t, there are damage caps.

Oh, yeah, no. A teacher being shot on school grounds is not merely a workman's comp issue. She'll get money there, as well probably her pay and insurance covered for the rest of the school year along with her medical bills. She'll sue the administrators and the district itself for not protecting her when they were well aware of the problem. There isn't a jury out there that wouldn't be sympathetic to her. But, I hope she goes FAR beyond suing on her own behalf. I hope she can help teachers everywhere change the IDEA laws around protecting students at all cost, including at the expense of true safety of others.

It doesn’t matter what a jury says. This is a question of law and juries don’t get to decide them. In the Commonwealth, WC, which covers medical bills and lost wages, is the exclusive legal remedy. And, while none of us will ever know due to privacy laws, the school may well have been following federal law as it relates to a child with a disability. There is evidence of some plan in that the child was moved to this school and the mother was required to walk him to class.

I'm not sure this is true in this case. The person who searched the kid's bag needs to lose their job. The administrator who didn't protect the teacher in the first place should lose their job. The school district who ignored or didn't even ask about what was needed in this case (because this child had been problematic from the get go), the district that didn't provide a 1:1 aide for the kid? All of central office needs to lose their jobs.\

But far more important is that the law needs to change to both FUND and guarantee that all violent kids either be quickly (within days) from a gen ed setting. We very obviously need more therapeutic schools, more sped teachers. We need to be able to find, get and provide 1:1 aides for students who need it BEFORE there's an IEP in place. Kids with disabilities should absolutely be in LRE, until they threaten the safety of others. And quite honestly, once that happens, I don't particularly care where they go. Therapeutic school, psych ward, wherever. We have gone too far in protecting the needs of the tiny minority and ignored what everyone else needs.

Who is going to pay for this? Americans don't like to pay taxes. So all of this sounds nice in theory but isn't realistic.
Nothing is going to change until Americans care more about their community and less about their own perceived individual entitlements. If you want this fantasy above, you'll have to move to Europe or Canada.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I want to know what happened in the months before the kid shot his teacher. I'm guessing we'll never know because the school will claim "privacy issues". Too bad that his right to privacy is super important but her right to safety is....non existent.

Trust me, there were reports and reports and reports and nothing was done. This doesn’t come out of nowhere but when we as teachers report nothing happens because almost nothing can supersede a child’s right to public education until they are catastrophically violent and for smaller concerns in a lead up, admin won’t do anything but say “call home” and “document.” When she recovers she will have a massive civil suit against the district, and win, and never have to teach again.

Why people think she will be able to sue and that she can get massive amounts of money baffles me. This is workers’ comp and even if it wasn’t, there are damage caps.

Oh, yeah, no. A teacher being shot on school grounds is not merely a workman's comp issue. She'll get money there, as well probably her pay and insurance covered for the rest of the school year along with her medical bills. She'll sue the administrators and the district itself for not protecting her when they were well aware of the problem. There isn't a jury out there that wouldn't be sympathetic to her. But, I hope she goes FAR beyond suing on her own behalf. I hope she can help teachers everywhere change the IDEA laws around protecting students at all cost, including at the expense of true safety of others.

It doesn’t matter what a jury says. This is a question of law and juries don’t get to decide them. In the Commonwealth, WC, which covers medical bills and lost wages, is the exclusive legal remedy. And, while none of us will ever know due to privacy laws, the school may well have been following federal law as it relates to a child with a disability. There is evidence of some plan in that the child was moved to this school and the mother was required to walk him to class.

I'm not sure this is true in this case. The person who searched the kid's bag needs to lose their job. The administrator who didn't protect the teacher in the first place should lose their job. The school district who ignored or didn't even ask about what was needed in this case (because this child had been problematic from the get go), the district that didn't provide a 1:1 aide for the kid? All of central office needs to lose their jobs.\

But far more important is that the law needs to change to both FUND and guarantee that all violent kids either be quickly (within days) from a gen ed setting. We very obviously need more therapeutic schools, more sped teachers. We need to be able to find, get and provide 1:1 aides for students who need it BEFORE there's an IEP in place. Kids with disabilities should absolutely be in LRE, until they threaten the safety of others. And quite honestly, once that happens, I don't particularly care where they go. Therapeutic school, psych ward, wherever. We have gone too far in protecting the needs of the tiny minority and ignored what everyone else needs.

It is very difficult to remove a case from comp and even in really egregious circumstances it doesn’t happen. Here thinking that a teacher is at risk of being shot be a first grader as she’s teaching is pretty far from something that can be expected. I mean it’s so highly unusual that we’re all talking about it. But as aside from that, there are some real questions that have t been answered. Like at the time of the search was the gun in the backpack and did they limit the search to the backpack. And where was the gun in the first place that the kid could get ahold of it.

Also while I agree about needing more resources, I wonder if it would have made a difference here. I think a child this young with such serious issues is such an anomaly that programs wouldn’t be focused on his age group.

[Anonymous]

I'm the teacher who posted above about more therapeutic schools, more funding to help kids before they get their IEP, etc. Yes, I'm very familiar with the current lack of staff and lack of funds. I don't know how we'll fund it or how we'll find people to staff it. Perhaps we need to start teachers who work in therapeutic schools at 150K and TA's for those schools at 75K. I suspect that'd do it. There's always money, it's our stupid government who spends on things they shouldn't and mandates things they don't fund too.

We are nearing a complete collapse of staffing in education for sure. Teachers and staff are leaving in droves. Student violence and aggression is a huge factor. Whatever the solution is it should happen fast or we're not going to be able to keep schools open.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm the teacher who posted above about more therapeutic schools, more funding to help kids before they get their IEP, etc. Yes, I'm very familiar with the current lack of staff and lack of funds. I don't know how we'll fund it or how we'll find people to staff it. Perhaps we need to start teachers who work in therapeutic schools at 150K and TA's for those schools at 75K. I suspect that'd do it. There's always money, it's our stupid government who spends on things they shouldn't and mandates things they don't fund too.

We are nearing a complete collapse of staffing in education for sure. Teachers and staff are leaving in droves. Student violence and aggression is a huge factor. Whatever the solution is it should happen fast or we're not going to be able to keep schools open.

I am a parent who has pulled their behaving/good-natured kids from public schools because of the misbehavior and threats from their peers they had to endure.

Public schools are collapsing from all angles.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm the teacher who posted above about more therapeutic schools, more funding to help kids before they get their IEP, etc. Yes, I'm very familiar with the current lack of staff and lack of funds. I don't know how we'll fund it or how we'll find people to staff it. Perhaps we need to start teachers who work in therapeutic schools at 150K and TA's for those schools at 75K. I suspect that'd do it. There's always money, it's our stupid government who spends on things they shouldn't and mandates things they don't fund too.

We are nearing a complete collapse of staffing in education for sure. Teachers and staff are leaving in droves. Student violence and aggression is a huge factor. Whatever the solution is it should happen fast or we're not going to be able to keep schools open.

+1 from a parent and also a Special Ed teacher. We are seriously at a breaking point. Special Education is probably going to take the biggest hit, but you're crazy if you think it won't affect every other student and subject area. Private schools with the ability to pick and choose their student populations are having trouble keeping and retaining staff, too. If we can fund bullshit wars and give buckets in foreign aid to other countries, we can absolutely invest more in education.