“School downplayed warnings about 6-year-old before teacher’s shooting, staffers say,” The Washington Post headlined its Saturday report.
Weeks ago, elementary school teacher Abigail Zwerner was shot by a first grader in their Newport News, Virginia, classroom. Authorities are not sure of the precise motive but have called the attack “intentional.”
Zwerner remains hospitalized in stable condition, while her child assailant is in emergency custody undergoing “court-ordered mental health treatment.”*
School officials received a tip that the boy had brought a gun to school but did not find the weapon in their search.
More disturbing, The Post interviewed “educators claiming that Zwerner raised alarms . . . and sought assistance” but “that school administrators waved away grave concerns about the 6-year-old’s conduct.” The lad reportedly “threw furniture and other items in class,” once “barricaded the doors to a classroom, preventing a teacher and students from leaving,” and “was known campuswide for disruptive and violent behavior.”
One educator revealed that “the boy wrote a note telling a teacher he hated her and wanted to light her on fire and watch her die.” When brought “to the attention of Richneck administrators,” however, the teacher “was told to drop the matter.
“Several teachers said they received no support when they faced violence in the classroom or attacks from students,” the article informed. “Some speakers claimed the district is more interested in keeping discipline statistics low than in taking meaningful action to address students’ problems.”
The Post’s story was hampered by numerous school personnel refusing to talk citing their fear of reprisals from school authorities.
While mental health help must be addressed, there is no solution to problems if administrators act like crooked politicians, simply sweeping aside serious issues.
This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.
* In Virginia, a person must be seven years of age to be charged with a crime, so the first grader will not be prosecuted.
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1 reply on “Problem Student, Problem Admin”
Somehow, both the complicit parents of the 6-year-old boy and the boy himself should receive the death penalty. It’s biblical, assuming the boy had already been a serial felon-ist and while the lazy, drug-addled parents ignored it. Deuteronomy 21:18-21. Overkill? How much deterrent impact would the DP have on all parents nationwide and for how long? Sociologists would say, “no deterrent impact.” Meaning that modern American, woke, God-hating sociologists probably deserve the DP too.