Teacher shot at Newport News elementary school

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:New WaPo article has incredible accounts of students past violent behavior. I dont understand how he could have done these things IF his parents or grandparents were with him at school. The parents’ statement made it seem like the week of the shooting was the ONLY time they weren’t there. But WaPo article outlines him making threats, throwing furniture, barricading the doors and wandering around campus unsupervised. Where were his parents when this was going on?

Holy f-ing $hit.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2023/01/21/richneck-elementary-school-shooting-warnings-downplayed/

I hate to say I called it, but I did, early on in this thread. Other teachers concurred.

He could do those things because the family couldn't control the child either. This was the wrong placement from start to finish. I wish I could read the whole article (paywall) but I'm guessing this will come out in other articles. My school has kids who run out of the room and the building, kids who throw objects, kids who bruise or draw blood from staff, etc. While this child took it one step further with a gun, most schools are seeing this kind of behavior.
My proposal is that any child who harms someone or makes threats of harm more than once, in a serious way, is removed immediately from the gen ed room and that "safety rooms" become a designation within Sped. That way, the kids who need sped placements for learning, and or who aren't a danger to others or themselves are also safe. There needs to be a self contained room for unsafe children. It would be their LRE.

If you have a DC library card you can read the WP free there. Assume same for MC and VA.

Agree with your idea.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:New WaPo article has incredible accounts of students past violent behavior. I dont understand how he could have done these things IF his parents or grandparents were with him at school. The parents’ statement made it seem like the week of the shooting was the ONLY time they weren’t there. But WaPo article outlines him making threats, throwing furniture, barricading the doors and wandering around campus unsupervised. Where were his parents when this was going on?

Holy f-ing $hit.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2023/01/21/richneck-elementary-school-shooting-warnings-downplayed/

+1
“The Virginia teacher who was shot by a 6-year-old student repeatedly asked administrators for help with the boy but officials downplayed educators’ warnings about his behavior, including dismissing his threat to light a teacher on fire and watch her die, according to messages from teachers obtained by The Washington Post.
The previously unreported incidents raise fresh questions about how Richneck Elementary School in Newport News handled the troubled student before police say he shot Abigail Zwerner as she taught her first-grade class earlier this month. Authorities have called the shooting “intentional” but are still investigating the motive.”

Every district in the country is dealing with this. I hesitate to say every school but it absolutely wouldn’t surprise me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:New WaPo article has incredible accounts of students past violent behavior. I dont understand how he could have done these things IF his parents or grandparents were with him at school. The parents’ statement made it seem like the week of the shooting was the ONLY time they weren’t there. But WaPo article outlines him making threats, throwing furniture, barricading the doors and wandering around campus unsupervised. Where were his parents when this was going on?

Holy f-ing $hit.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2023/01/21/richneck-elementary-school-shooting-warnings-downplayed/

+1
“The Virginia teacher who was shot by a 6-year-old student repeatedly asked administrators for help with the boy but officials downplayed educators’ warnings about his behavior, including dismissing his threat to light a teacher on fire and watch her die, according to messages from teachers obtained by The Washington Post.
The previously unreported incidents raise fresh questions about how Richneck Elementary School in Newport News handled the troubled student before police say he shot Abigail Zwerner as she taught her first-grade class earlier this month. Authorities have called the shooting “intentional” but are still investigating the motive.”

Every district in the country is dealing with this. I hesitate to say every school but it absolutely wouldn’t surprise me.

I am a teacher who battled in vain to get anything done for a schizophrenic student who last year would sit in my class openly talking out loud to the voices he heard and punching the air and would roam the school to find drugs if an adult wasn’t with him every second and yes, I agree, every school is dealing with it, there are not enough options for kids with real issues and often nothing can be done UNTIL they are actually violent.

[Anonymous]

Dark thought here.

I know everyone thinks that the parents are to blame for having a gun. But knowing more of the story there is a potential that the gun was for self defense against their own kid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:New WaPo article has incredible accounts of students past violent behavior. I dont understand how he could have done these things IF his parents or grandparents were with him at school. The parents’ statement made it seem like the week of the shooting was the ONLY time they weren’t there. But WaPo article outlines him making threats, throwing furniture, barricading the doors and wandering around campus unsupervised. Where were his parents when this was going on?

Holy f-ing $hit.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2023/01/21/richneck-elementary-school-shooting-warnings-downplayed/

Many of you have no idea what's really going on in public schools and the degree to which very volatile, aggressive, and emotionally dosturbed kids are sitting in regular classrooms with unsuspecting classmates. Teachers do know.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is it common to have a plan under which parents must attend with their kid? I've never heard of this.

I have never encountered this in more than 20 years of education.

Me either

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is it common to have a plan under which parents must attend with their kid? I've never heard of this.

I have never encountered this in more than 20 years of education.

Me either

Then you are very blessed. I had my first psychotic child in an inclusion setting during my third year teaching. He was only a risk to himself and would self-harm. He could take anything, including paper into a weapon. Because the class only had five student with SN, we didn’t qualify for two paras. So one para sat with him, while I tried to be a human reader and scribe for the other four kids. And everyone else taught themselves. At least we never had to clear the room.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is it common to have a plan under which parents must attend with their kid? I've never heard of this.

I have never encountered this in more than 20 years of education.

Me either

Then you are very blessed. I had my first psychotic child in an inclusion setting during my third year teaching. He was only a risk to himself and would self-harm. He could take anything, including paper into a weapon. Because the class only had five student with SN, we didn’t qualify for two paras. So one para sat with him, while I tried to be a human reader and scribe for the other four kids. And everyone else taught themselves. At least we never had to clear the room.

I'm not I have dealt with volatile children as a SPED teacher....interestingly enough I have never heard of parents being asked to come in with child every day. To me that says next level contract services.

[Anonymous]

Then you are very blessed. I had my first psychotic child in an inclusion setting during my third year teaching. He was only a risk to himself and would self-harm. He could take anything, including paper into a weapon. Because the class only had five student with SN, we didn’t qualify for two paras. So one para sat with him, while I tried to be a human reader and scribe for the other four kids. And everyone else taught themselves. At least we never had to clear the room.

Oh, I’ve had plenty of kids who were violent, but none for whom the instructional plan required a parent attending school with them.

I agree with the PP who said this problem is very widespread and it is an alarming problem. The more kids get violent in school, the more it gets normalized and tolerated, and the worse it gets.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:New WaPo article has incredible accounts of students past violent behavior. I dont understand how he could have done these things IF his parents or grandparents were with him at school. The parents’ statement made it seem like the week of the shooting was the ONLY time they weren’t there. But WaPo article outlines him making threats, throwing furniture, barricading the doors and wandering around campus unsupervised. Where were his parents when this was going on?

Holy f-ing $hit.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2023/01/21/richneck-elementary-school-shooting-warnings-downplayed/

Many of you have no idea what's really going on in public schools and the degree to which very volatile, aggressive, and emotionally dosturbed kids are sitting in regular classrooms with unsuspecting classmates. Teachers do know.

Yes sad but true-I'm a teacher and a parent and this scares me on both sides.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Then you are very blessed. I had my first psychotic child in an inclusion setting during my third year teaching. He was only a risk to himself and would self-harm. He could take anything, including paper into a weapon. Because the class only had five student with SN, we didn’t qualify for two paras. So one para sat with him, while I tried to be a human reader and scribe for the other four kids. And everyone else taught themselves. At least we never had to clear the room.

Oh, I’ve had plenty of kids who were violent, but none for whom the instructional plan required a parent attending school with them.

I agree with the PP who said this problem is very widespread and it is an alarming problem. The more kids get violent in school, the more it gets normalized and tolerated, and the worse it gets.

Totally agree with you-we are told evacuate the dangerous student but what message does that send to the other kids....it says their education is less important. The system is broken.

[Anonymous]

Between FERPA and FAPE (and I wouldn't be surprised if some DCUM posters helped with the writing of the included laws), as well as advocates and attorneys, schools are often forced to keep very troubled and aggressive students in inclusion or regular classrooms when they truly need to be in small group settings for most of the day or in a separate school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is it common to have a plan under which parents must attend with their kid? I've never heard of this.

I have never encountered this in more than 20 years of education.

Me either

Then you are very blessed. I had my first psychotic child in an inclusion setting during my third year teaching. He was only a risk to himself and would self-harm. He could take anything, including paper into a weapon. Because the class only had five student with SN, we didn’t qualify for two paras. So one para sat with him, while I tried to be a human reader and scribe for the other four kids. And everyone else taught themselves. At least we never had to clear the room.

As bad as that is, it wasn’t the kids parents sitting with him. That’s what PP was reacting to.

Also, your district could be better. My son was in a learning center classroom with one teacher and two paras for four kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Between FERPA and FAPE (and I wouldn't be surprised if some DCUM posters helped with the writing of the included laws), as well as advocates and attorneys, schools are often forced to keep very troubled and aggressive students in inclusion or regular classrooms when they truly need to be in small group settings for most of the day or in a separate school.

FERPA passed in 1974 and FAPE was established in 1975.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Between FERPA and FAPE (and I wouldn't be surprised if some DCUM posters helped with the writing of the included laws), as well as advocates and attorneys, schools are often forced to keep very troubled and aggressive students in inclusion or regular classrooms when they truly need to be in small group settings for most of the day or in a separate school.

FERPA passed in 1974 and FAPE was established in 1975.

They have been updated.