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Eugene

(61,592 posts)
Sat Jan 21, 2023, 11:43 PM Jan 2023

School downplayed warnings about 6-year-old before teacher's shooting, staffers say

Source: Washington Post

School downplayed warnings about 6-year-old before teacher’s shooting, staffers say

By Hannah Natanson and Justin Jouvenal
January 21, 2023 at 10:00 a.m. EST

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.

Many parents are already outraged over Richneck officials’ management of events before the shooting. Newport News Superintendent George Parker III has said school officials got a tip the boy had a gun that day and searched his backpack, but that staffers never found the weapon before authorities say the 6-year-old shot Zwerner. Newport News Police Chief Steve Drew said his department was not contacted about the report that the boy had a weapon before the shooting.

Police and school officials have repeatedly declined to answer questions about the boy’s disciplinary issues or worrisome behaviors the 6-year-old may have exhibited and how school officials responded, citing the child’s age and the ongoing law enforcement investigation. The boy’s family said in a statement he has an “acute disability,” but James Ellenson, an attorney for the family, declined to comment on accounts of the boy’s behavior or how it was handled by the school.

-snip-

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

Non-paywalled link: https://archive.is/7KwGF

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School downplayed warnings about 6-year-old before teacher's shooting, staffers say (Original Post) Eugene Jan 2023 OP
Figures. We kowtow to the gun culture and AllyCat Jan 2023 #1
Teachers should be walking out of classrooms AwakeAtLast Jan 2023 #2

AllyCat

(16,034 posts)
1. Figures. We kowtow to the gun culture and
Sun Jan 22, 2023, 12:20 AM
Jan 2023

Let our teachers, kids, and neighbors die. The school could have done something. So could the cops.

AwakeAtLast

(14,112 posts)
2. Teachers should be walking out of classrooms
Sun Jan 22, 2023, 05:36 PM
Jan 2023

I don't know how I'm going to make it to retirement!

If you be think this is an isolated incident, I have some property behind Mar-A-Lago to sell you.

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