Abby Zwerner's Delayed Justice

If you're in the Education Business, you are very familiar with the name Abby Zwerner.

For those unfamiliar, Abby Zwerner was a first grade special education teacher that was shot by one of her 6-year-olds (Student X) after her school's administration failed to act on multiple reports that the young student had a gun in 2023.

There were a number of red flags in the case:

• The student was a Special Education student that had an IEP (Individualized Education Program) that dictated that a parent had to attend school with the student. That is almost unheard of in education. That day, the parent called off and sent their kid to school alone.

• If Zwerner reported to the administration, AT LEAST TWICE, that the student had a gun, why didn't they act? This is what wasn't reported in the media. Administrators in the 2020's are terrified of looking racist. When White Zwerner reported a Black 6 year old had a gun, instead of erring on the side of caution, the administrators put Zwerner in harm's way for the sake of optics.

• IEPs are not public knowledge, but I would bet money that the IEPs diagnosis was ODD. What is ODD? From AI: Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD) is a mental health condition characterized by a persistent, ongoing pattern of angry or irritable moods, argumentative or defiant behavior, and vindictiveness toward authority figures. In the "old days," ODD was just a bad kid. Today, being a bad kid is a disorder.

Earlier this year, Zwerner was awarded $10 million dollars by a jury based on the Newport News' School District's negligence.**

Then what are we doing here today?

The shocking video detailing the kid's arrest were quietly released this week when the police body cam footage was picked up by a few local affiliates and a couple of national news agencies.

Student X: I don't care if you call backup. I don't care about going to jail.

Student X: Both of y'all (cops) want a fucking piece of me, bitch.

Student X: If you want a piece of me, come get it all, bitch.

Cop: I mean, he does have the gun residue (on his hands), looks like.

Student X: I stole that (gun) from my Mom.

All 5 screen shots are only moments after Student X shot his teacher. The child does not appear to have remorse. The child does not appear to fear any repercussions.

Now I'm going to throw this out to you, the reader. In racial incidents where White Cops shot Black Teens, those stories dominated news cycles for years. At the 5 year mark of the Tamir Rice Shooting, cleveland.com proclaimed: OUR RACISM KILLED TAMIR RICE: Now It's Time to Do Right by His Legacy. Why haven't Conservatives rallied around protecting educators?

Ahhhhhhhhh....

I'm not saying arrest the kid. And the parent has already been convicted of child neglect. I'm saying that according to The Learning Policy Institute: "A vast body of research indicates that exclusionary practices—like suspensions and expulsions—are ineffective at changing student behavior and highly damaging to long-term outcomes. According to Harvard: "Data consistently revealed that these punishments disproportionately impacted Black, Hispanic, and disabled students."

Why haven't incidents like the Zwerner Case pushed back against woke educators? The de-emphasization of consequences for minorities is a hotly debated topic in local districts across the nation. When Rice was shot, it was a (supposedly) systematic indictment of the entire law enforcement system.

Why isn't the Zwerner Case being judged as a basic failure of woke educators?

Why isn't clevelad.com declaring: EXTREME LIBERAL POLICIES NEARLY KILLED ABBY ZWERNER.

For the record, Abby Zwerner still has bullet fragments near her spine.

I wish I could cut and paste the entire article, but I ask that you head on over to Substack and read this stellar article: WHO PAYS THE $10 MILLION WHEN THE TEACHER GETS SHOT?

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**According to AI

Abby Zwerner is expected to receive at least a portion of her $10 million jury award, though the exact payment mechanism and potential appeals process involve municipal insurance and risk pools.

• The Verdict: A Virginia jury awarded Zwerner $10 million in her civil lawsuit against former assistant principal Ebony Parker, finding her grossly negligent for failing to act on warnings that the 6-year-old student had a gun.

• The Ruling Upheld: A judge formally denied motions to overturn or dismiss the $10 million verdict. 

• Who Pays: The Newport News Public Schools district participates in state-administered public entity risk pools (such as the Virginia Risk Sharing Association or VaRISK 2), and insurance policies cover the school board and named insured staff members, meaning public risk-pool mechanisms are expected to handle part or all of the payout. 

• Next Steps: While the trial judge upheld the verdict, post-trial proceedings and anticipated appeals from the defense could still impact the timeline or final distribution of the funds

  
  

  .

  

  Uh, not ADHD.

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This was a very easily avoidable tragedy. Zwerner says the student has a gun, the resource officer (or principal) then searches the student and takes away the gun. End of story.

Why was a problem that had a one sentence solution turned into an all day drama with a terrible ending?

At my day job in the local school district, I would estimate that two-thirds of the aides in my department have been struck by students, without student consequences, within the last 3 years.

Have I ever been struck by a student without consequences? Yes, but that kid didn't have intent.

Old educators live by "actions have consequences."

New educators live by PBIS: "Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports."

In the case of police enforcement, the media uses every borderline incident to fan the flames of discord in this country.

The Zwerner Case should have the casual observer up in arms, there should be a national debate about core educational models.

Why isn't that happening?

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