This is both a strange and tragic story. A very young child brings a gun to school and shoots his teacher. Reportedly, he had previously threatened this and other violent actions so it was not impulsive which is my normal Preschool and Elementary behavior barometer. What concerns me are the actions of the school.
The school is public district, as opposed to public charter, so is bound by district rules and district policies. I am certain that the principal followed both to the letter. I also strongly suspect that both promote the "rights of the child" over those of the group, the community or the teacher.
I don't know what these rules and policies are, but I do know that public district schools are more often than not hamstrung in what they can and cannot and must and must not do. As a public school teacher, I often had to accept student and behaviors outside my skillset and which were at best deleterious to the learning experiences of other students. The schools did not have the support staff (policies, priorities and funding), class sizes were too large (policies, priorities and funding), students were in inappropriate classes or programs (policies, priorities and funding), parent demands could overrule professional decisions and recommendations, and so on and so on.
Writing as a former independent school director, I am asking you to guess as to the most common reason cited by parents wanting to leave public district schools and come to mine.
The brief reporting on this event shows that the school knew about the student and his propensities, and their response was a one-day suspension. To me, the people in the school district and state government who prevented the school from having the resources it needs and the freedom to act should be held accountable for the attempted murder which occurred here.
I am not unsympathetic to the parents, however that is a wider and societal matter. Nonetheless, while every child may indeed have a right to education, the implications of this (policies, priorities and funding) must be better understood if we want to preserve public education, and teacher (and student) lives.
**Please leave comments and questions below**
Further reading
Again, what is a school to do?
https://apnews.com/article/education-teaching-newport-news-virginia-fd4938bb3097fdbf858f599fc53adc45
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