Zwerner [the teacher] first went to a school administrator between 11:15 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. and said the student threatened to beat up a classmate, Toscano said. A second teacher went to a school administrator at 12:30 p.m. and told the administrator the teacher took it upon herself to search the 6-year-old boy's backpack.

"The administrator downplayed the report from the teacher and the possibility of a gun," Toscano said. A third teacher told an administrator shortly before 1 p.m., the boy showed a student the gun at recess and "threatened to shoot him if he told anybody," Toscano said. A fourth employee asked an administrator for permission to search the boy and was denied, Toscano said.

A former assistant principal at a Virginia elementary school should be held criminally liable after her “lack of response” and “poor decisions” allowed a student to intentionally shoot his first-grade teacher last year, according to a special grand jury report released Wednesday.

“Dr. Parker’s lack of response and initiative given the seriousness of the information she had received on January 6, 2023 is shocking,” the report says.

Parker and other school officials already face a $40 million negligence lawsuit from the teacher who was shot, Abby Zwerner. She accuses Parker and others of ignoring multiple warnings the boy had a gun and was in a “violent mood” the day of the shooting.

--snrps--

Newport News police have said the student who shot Zwerner retrieved his mother’s handgun from atop a dresser at home and brought the weapon to school concealed in a backpack.

During the 2021-2022 school year, the child exhibited many behavioral problems, according to the grand jury report. In an incident on Sept. 27, 2021, the child allegedly choked his kindergarten teacher “so hard she couldn’t breathe,” the report says. Over his kindergarten year, the boy also would occasionally hit a counselor, kick and spit on a teacher assistant, and brag about smoking his mother’s marijuana, according to the report.

But administrators at the school failed to initiate a “Functional Behavioral Assessment or Behavior Intervention Plan” during this time despite school counselors having to frequently help the boy’s kindergarten teacher with his behavior, the report says. Instead, administrators sent the child back to preschool at a different school.

Several security issues were also not addressed or were dismissed by administrators – including the school building’s door buzzer system that was broken for weeks before the shooting and later slowed down police response, according to the report. On the day of the shooting, the report accuses Parker of ignoring multiple warnings that the boy was carrying a gun and that he had been in a “violent mood.”

highdesert wrote: Fri Apr 12, 2024 8:28 am CA teachers and their unions need to start electing new state politicians like the governor and state superintendent of schools and state legislators, who can change things up. If you reelect the same old politicians then nothing changes, their first priority is getting reelected.

More on the VA case.

During the 2021-2022 school year, the child exhibited many behavioral problems, according to the grand jury report. In an incident on Sept. 27, 2021, the child allegedly choked his kindergarten teacher “so hard she couldn’t breathe,” the report says. Over his kindergarten year, the boy also would occasionally hit a counselor, kick and spit on a teacher assistant, and brag about smoking his mother’s marijuana, according to the report.

But administrators at the school failed to initiate a “Functional Behavioral Assessment or Behavior Intervention Plan” during this time despite school counselors having to frequently help the boy’s kindergarten teacher with his behavior, the report says. Instead, administrators sent the child back to preschool at a different school.

Several security issues were also not addressed or were dismissed by administrators – including the school building’s door buzzer system that was broken for weeks before the shooting and later slowed down police response, according to the report. On the day of the shooting, the report accuses Parker of ignoring multiple warnings that the boy was carrying a gun and that he had been in a “violent mood.”

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nat ... 267354007/

Violent and dangerous students should not make life hell for teachers and the bulk of school students.

senorgrand wrote: Fri Apr 12, 2024 10:59 am In CA, state law makes it difficult if not impossible to suspend kids, even for violent behavior.

Shooting of Virginia teacher by 6-year-old was an ‘avoidable event,’ special grand jury report says

The teaching workforce is shrinking due to retirements, low pay and burnout. Fewer students are pursuing a career in teaching due to cost and other factors. A teacher shortage is affecting schools across the nation, but it's especially bad in California.

Fewer students are pursuing a career in teaching due to cost and the length of the credentialing process.

WARREN, Mich. (WXYZ) — Warren police say an 8-year-old child is in critical condition after shooting himself in the face with what may have been an unsecured gun.

--snrps--

“I don’t believe the ambulance stopped for a single intersection. We got the kid down there in record time," Warren Police Lt. Greg Booton said.

Police are still investigating but say at this point, it appears the child found the gun and shot himself. Both of his parents and two younger siblings were home at the time of the incident.

The investigation will include whether the gun was safely and securely stored.

CDFingers wrote: Sat Apr 20, 2024 8:52 am

WARREN, Mich. (WXYZ) — Warren police say an 8-year-old child is in critical condition after shooting himself in the face with what may have been an unsecured gun.

--snrps--

“I don’t believe the ambulance stopped for a single intersection. We got the kid down there in record time," Warren Police Lt. Greg Booton said.

Police are still investigating but say at this point, it appears the child found the gun and shot himself. Both of his parents and two younger siblings were home at the time of the incident.

The investigation will include whether the gun was safely and securely stored.

https://www.wxyz.com/news/region/macomb ... red-weapon

It "may have been an unsecured gun..."

Writer must get paid by the word.

CDF

sig230 wrote: Sat Apr 20, 2024 9:24 am

CDFingers wrote: Sat Apr 20, 2024 8:52 am

WARREN, Mich. (WXYZ) — Warren police say an 8-year-old child is in critical condition after shooting himself in the face with what may have been an unsecured gun.

--snrps--

“I don’t believe the ambulance stopped for a single intersection. We got the kid down there in record time," Warren Police Lt. Greg Booton said.

Police are still investigating but say at this point, it appears the child found the gun and shot himself. Both of his parents and two younger siblings were home at the time of the incident.

The investigation will include whether the gun was safely and securely stored.

https://www.wxyz.com/news/region/macomb ... red-weapon

It "may have been an unsecured gun..."

Writer must get paid by the word.

CDF

Mark Twain was once quoted as saying "I will not use the word metropolis when I get paid the same for city!"

A 10-year-old Texas boy confessed he used his grandfather’s gun to fatally shoot a sleeping man in 2022, a week before his 8th birthday, according to the Gonzales County Sheriff’s Office.

The homicide investigation into the death of Brandon O’Quinn Rasberry, 32, who was shot once in the head in January 2022 at an RV park in Nixon, Texas, had gone cold until the child’s recent comments about a man he had shot and killed two years ago, the sheriff’s office said in a news release.

--snrps--

After obtaining a pistol he found in the glove box of his grandfather’s truck, the child told investigators he entered Rasberry’s RV, according to the release.

--snrps--

The child told investigators he saw Rasberry sleeping, approached him and fired a shot, striking the man once in the head, according to the Gonzales County Sheriff’s Office.

A Virginia man is in critical condition after being shot by a 2-year-old, police said.

According to the Chesterfield County Police Department, the unidentified man was about to leave the house Monday morning and had "placed his handgun on a nearby chair."

The toddler retrieved it and "accidentally discharged the firearm, shooting the victim," police said.

Police said the man was airlifted to the hospital in critical condition.

"Although it's an accident, you have to be careful. I'm a gun owner myself, but there is no way on God's green earth that I would want to put anyone's family through this. You all have got to secure your weapons. Have them, but secure them. Protect our babies. It's too many of our children dying here," Parks said.

--snrp--

--snrp--

The highest number of accidental shootings by children -- since the group started tracking these incidents in 2015 -- happened in 2021.

--snrp--

"Several states have recently passed secure-storage laws, which research shows make a huge difference in saving children's lives," Burd-Sharps said. "And the hope is that as these laws are passed, these unintentional shootings by children will continue to go down."

--snrp--

Safe storage laws are generally very popular. A 2019 survey from the American Public Media Research Lab found 78% of Americans either strongly support or somewhat support mandating locked gun storage.

jc57 wrote: Wed Aug 21, 2024 1:27 pm I don't have any kids, nor any relatives with kids who bring them over, so if the entire purpose of "safe storage" is to keep dangerous things out of children's hands, that is a non-issue for me.