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[Horse with no Name]

This message was self-deleted by its author (Horse with no Name) on Mon Jan 14, 2013, 09:58 PM. When the original post in a discussion thread is self-deleted, the entire discussion thread is automatically locked so new replies cannot be posted.

[Hekate]

1. She needs paid medical leave when changing meds to make sure she's stabilized ...

... before returning to the classroom. Every time. Period.

At this point, this teacher should be reassigned.

Look, I knew teachers back when I was a kid who lost control of their classrooms and never regained it. Kids roam in packs and are harsh little beasts sometimes. They can get all Lord of the Flies, even elementary school kids.

My brother's 4th grade classroom was one like that. A group of boys got under their teacher's skin and dug and dug and dug until one day she finally ran from the class in tears and never returned. That class didn't get back under control until 6th grade, when the school hired a male teacher who couldn't be bullied. My brother thought it was pretty cool that Mr. Sasaki would throw the chalk eraser at you if you misbehaved.

Our local junior high school had an English teacher who had a nervous breakdown and when he came back to work he was assigned to the Library for a year. All well and good. But after that he returned to teaching English at the same school, and some of the boys, knowing his woundedness, would sit together and give him the stinkeye to see if they could rattle him. Personally, I believe he should have been able to start back in another school where none of the kids knew his history.

Teachers are human beings.

By the way, I call BS on the guns in the classroom issue. No teacher outside an actual war zone should have to be thinking about carrying firearms.

[narnian60]

8. I would have gladly stayed in the library.

[spin]

2. I am a gun owner with a carry permit. ...

I have never been overly fond of the idea to let classroom teachers carry concealed handguns. If a classroom teacher is allowed to carry, he/she should be required too have a much higher level of training than the average person who has a carry permit.

I'm not opposed to allowing some school personnel to carry firearms with considerable training but I feel a retired police officer might also be a good choice for school security.

Armed security may or may not stop a school massacre. I feel that it would largely be a deterrent. Shooters who run amok often chose a gun free zone as their shooting gallery. Any gun free zone that houses a lot of people should have some armed security.

I know that I will be criticized for suggesting that more guns are the solution to guns. I am merely looking for real solutions that will help reduce the truly tragic shootings we have seen in recent years. The idea of banning assault style semi-auto rifles might help some but such legislation is hard if not impossible to pass in our current Congress. It could also be overturned in the future. Feel free to disagree but time will tell if I am right.

Of course there are a lot of truly reasonable ideas that could become law that will help. The NRA will oppose many of these ideas and the most liberal faction of our party may be disappointed as they don't go far enough.

I rarely have nightmares but I woke up in a cold sweat with one I had after the Connecticut shooting. Let's try to make some real progress in addressing gun violence in our nation but let's pass some laws that will work for a change than waste our time passing a bunch of "feel good" laws.

[DogPawsBiscuitsNGrav]

3. A lot of cities are planning on arming teachers. I agree, this teacher and any others with mental

health issues shouldn't be allowed guns at school. At this time I don't believe they're planning to make teachers carry guns. From what I understand they're talking about volunteers with no mental health issues.

I hope this woman gets the help she needs, and as another person posted, is reassigned so she doesn't have to be taunted because of her meltdown.

[gollygee]

4. Not all mentally ill people know they're mentally ill

This teacher is getting treatment and will be safer than some untreated person who might think he/she is fine and get a gun and carry it in class.

And people who are not at all mentally ill can have anger and rage issues and be unsafe with guns. And conversely not all mentally ill people have anger or rage issues or would be unsafe.

The problem is that there is no way to know who is safe and who is unsafe until somebody gets shot.

[immoderate]

6. There are some people who just can't handle a tough class.

If your subject has shown previous competence, meaning was a good teacher, she should be given every chance at rehab. I'm not sure if "not isolated" means her previous incidents.

I wouldn't give her, or any other teacher, a gun. I'm a teacher, and I own guns. I believe in the separation of school and guns. A teacher is as likely to shoot a student as stop a massacre.

How much is liability insurance for a gun toting teacher?

--imm

[tallahasseedem]

7. I honestly don't see why...

this tragic story of this teacher was posted in association with a statement about guns in the classroom.

[Posteritatis]

9. DU likes scapegoating the mentally ill (always as a monolith) for several things. (nt)

[tallahasseedem]

10. It is a shame...

I have seen it publicly drive away a valued member of DU and who knows how many more.

I really feel for the teacher in this situation...how horrible for both them and the students.

[MichiganVote]

14. Thank you. Neither do I. People with Bi Polar ARE law enforcement, military,health etc.

Quit targeting teachers.

[proud2BlibKansan]

17. Neither do I. Thank you.

I guess I'm about at the end of my rope with this bullshit. EVERYWHERE I go, and yes I mean everywhere, for the past month, someone says something about me needing a gun in my classroom. Family gatherings over the holidays, dinner with friends, a phone call from a casual friend I hadn't talked to for awhile, emails, Facebook posts - I am surrounded by people obsessed with the idea of teachers and guns.

Enough already.

[Lex]

11. No teacher, bi-polar or not, needs to have the burden of carrying

a dangerous weapon in order to supposedly protect her children.

What a seriously disturbed place this country has become due to the NRA and their cowardly followers.

[MichiganVote]

15. Teachers do about everything but raise kids. And they're still not good enuf'. Bodyguards? Hardly.

[okaawhatever]

12. My town: city councilman:attorney for & fan of gun nut Yeager, Dir of Schools: Retired Marine

I thank our Director of Schools, Mike Looney, for being the voice of reason in all this. Here is an excerpt from an article in USA Today:

Looney, a former Marine who used assault weapons during his service, said educators simply should not be shouldered with the job of killing an attacker.
"I will adamantly oppose the concept of arming teachers," Looney said. "I don't want to be confrontational, but I, frankly, think that's an absurd idea. They're not trained or prepared to make decisions on when to use deadly force.
"I'm also frustrated in the notion that teachers are supposed to do everything, including kill people. They're supposed to teach kids how to read and do mathematics."

This was in response to our Mayor:
"My suggestion is to allow more teachers to obtain conceal carry permits and (change the laws) to allow those to carry (a weapon) on school grounds," Mayor Ed Hagerty said. "Then you don't need an armed officer at every school."

I think Mr. Looney gets the idea that our teachers need help teaching. Teachers have never had it so hard, let's not add the question of when to use deadly force to the why can't Johnny read debate.

[proud2BlibKansan]

16. Wow.

Do you really think this is helpful?

What if this person was a nurse? Or a lawyer? Or a clerk at WalMart? Would that make a meltdown at work less horrific?