NEWPORT NEWS, Va. (AP) — The shooting of a first-grade teacher by a 6-year-old boy has plunged the nation into uncharted waters of faculty violence, with many within the Virginia shipbuilding city where it happened demanding metal detectors in every school.
But experts warn there aren’t any easy solutions with regards to stopping gun violence in schools.
“It is a real game changer,” said Mo Canady, executive director of the National Association of School Resource Officers, which trains law enforcement members who work in schools.
“How will we begin to approach the concept of protecting students and staff from an armed 6-year-old?” he said of the attack Friday in Newport News.
American educators have long been attempting to create protected spaces that feel less like prisons and more like schools. If anything, Friday’s shooting fuels a debate over the effectiveness of metal detectors — that are still relatively rare in schools — and other safety measures.
Political Cartoons
“Metal detectors and clear backpacks usually tend to cause young children to be fearful and feel criminalized,” said Amanda Nickerson, a faculty psychology professor on the State University of Recent York at Buffalo.
“Most of the strategies being suggested shouldn’t have any research evidence, they usually may very well erode a healthy school climate,” she said — one where students and staff be happy to share concerns about possible threats, which has been shown to forestall shootings.
A more practical approach fosters “positive social, emotional, behavioral and academic success,” Nickerson said.
Ron Avi Astor, a professor of social welfare and education on the University of California, Los Angeles, said “it’s really the gun owners who have to be held responsible.”
Astor said that a public health approach to reducing gun violence in schools is required, in addition to gun licensing.
“Let’s all agree that gun education is de facto vital, particularly around gun safety and accidents and children gaining access to guns,” Astor said. “Let’s make that a part of health class. Let’s be certain that every kid, parent and educator goes through education and unsafe materials safety training in every school in america.”
“Gun safety education … is something that the majority Americans agree on, based on national polls. That’s a terrific place to start out saving lives and reducing injury or death,” Astor said.
The shooting Friday occurred as Abigail Zwerner taught her first-grade class at Richneck Elementary. There was no warning and no struggle before the 6-year-old pointed the gun at Zwerner and fired one round.
The bullet pierced Zwerner’s hand and struck her chest. The 25-year-old hustled her students out of the classroom before being rushed to the hospital. She has improved and was listed in stable condition Monday, authorities said.
Police Chief Steve Drew described the shooting as “intentional.” A judge will determine what’s next for the kid, who’s being held at a medical facility following an emergency custody order.
Meanwhile, the superintendent of Newport News Public Schools said the shooting “will cause us to rethink how we handle our youngest children.”
City schools depend on metal detectors and random searches in high schools and middle schools, but not for elementary buildings, Superintendent George Parker III said at a Monday news conference.
“I hate to be at this point where I’m considering this, but we now have to start out counting on those sorts of deterrents on the elementary level as well,” Parker said.
James Graves, president of the Newport News Education Association, said the teachers union would ask the varsity board for metal detectors in every school.
“If a metal detector in every school goes to permit our children to be protected, so be it,” he told The Associated Press.
The union can even propose that students be required to hold only clear backpacks so the contents will be easily seen, Graves said.
Eric Billet, whose three children attend Newport News public schools, said he supports more security measures, like metal detectors, bag searches and a security officer at every school. But he would also like more behavioral specialists and counselors working with students.
Two of Billet’s children go to Richneck, including his fourth-grade daughter who’s endured nightmares following the shooting.
“The tougher piece is the culture change,” he said.
“I do know some teachers have had trouble controlling classrooms since COVID,” Billet added. “I have no idea all the reasons, whether it’s parenting at home or other influences, or an absence of authority and discipline at college. I definitely don’t blame the teachers for this.”
Rick Fogle, whose grandson is in second grade at Richneck, supports increased use of metal detectors. But he also said schools have to be more willing to go looking backpacks, pockets and desks if kids are suspected of getting a gun.
“They’ve got to beat social pressure to respect people’s rights and realize that the rights of those that might be injured have to be considered,” Fogle said.
At the identical time, individuals are shot or guns are taken away at schools almost day by day, Riedman said. There have been 302 shootings on school property last yr. And since 1970, greater than 250 teachers, principals and other school staff have been shot.
Still, he questioned how realistic it’s for schools to ramp up use of metal detectors.
“Schools are already battling adequate resources — finding bus drivers, finding enough teachers,” Riedman said. “To have comprehensive school security with 100% weapons detection essentially requires a TSA-style agency that will cost a whole bunch of billions of dollars to implement across the country. And that’s not viable.”
Through the 2019-2020 school yr, lower than 2% of public elementary schools performed random metal detector checks on students. It was 10% for middle schools and 14.8% for prime schools.
Canady said equipping schools with metal detectors requires quite a lot of training and maintenance — and might provide a false sense of security in the event that they’re not operated appropriately.
A relationship-based policing approach can higher help avert school violence, he said. “Every student in a faculty environment must have no less than one trusted adult that they will connect with,” Canady said.
Krista Arnold, executive director of the Virginia Association of Elementary School Principals, agreed. She worked as an elementary school principal for 18 years in Virginia Beach before retiring in 2021.
“I had a few knives brought to high school during my 18 years, and (the scholars) normally sing like canaries and tell anyone,” Arnold said. “And that typically got to the front office pretty quickly.”
Arnold said she’s not a proponent of turning schools into fortresses. As a substitute, she supports teaching empathy and other behavioral skills.
“My experience is if you construct that community and also you explicitly teach social, emotional skills — and also you discuss the way it makes the opposite person feel should you’ve hurt them … you construct that good citizenship and also you reduce the quantity of discipline and aggression in the varsity,” she said.
Lavoie reported from Richmond, Virginia.
Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material will not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.