VA School Board: Workers Comp Should Cover Teacher’s Shooting By Six-Year-Old Just Fine
Abby Zwerner has sued the Newport News school board for $40 million.
Virginia teacher Abby Zwerner was shot in January by a six-year-old student at Richneck Elementary School. The child pulled a handgun from his desk, pointed it at Zwerner, and fired a single bullet through her hand and into her chest. She is still recovering physically and emotionally from this very American experience.
The school was warned three times that the six-year-old student had a gun but did nothing, and Zwerner has sued Newport News school board for $40 million. She accuses school leaders of "recklessly disregarding the safety" of everyone on school grounds. The school board filed a motion to dismiss the suit last week. Not even the best lawyers could argue that Zwerner's injuries are psychosomatic, but their actual argument is only slightly less absurd.
Law firm Pender and Coward (that's right) represents the Newport News School Board , former Newport News School Superintendent Dr. George Parker III, and former Richneck Elementary Principal Briana Foster-Newton. (Parker was fired outright after the shooting, but Foster-Newton was reassigned.) Pender and Coward argue that Zwerner's claims fall under Virginia's Workers’ Compensation Act, as if her injuries were something she could have reasonably expected to receive at her place of employment.
PREVIOUSLY: Well-Regulated Six-Year-Old Shoots Virginia Schoolteacher
... workers’ compensation exists for the benefit of employees for the purpose of providing coverage for workplace injuries without having to prove negligence on the part of the employer. Plaintiff is not without remedy; her remedy is dictated by the Virginia Workers’ Compensation Act and the provisions contained therein. The Newport News Circuit Court does not have jurisdiction to hear workers’ compensation claims.
The response from Zwerner's legal team was more grounded in reality:
No one believes that a first grade teacher should expect that one of the risks of teaching first grade is that you might get shot by a six-year-old. The school board’s position is contrary to how every citizen in Newport News thinks teachers should be treated, and the law does not support the board’s position. Teachers across the district will be alarmed to learn their employer sees this as part of the job description.
Zwerner has not yet returned to work. The bullet that shot her is still lodged in her chest. However, the defendants aren't just trying to avoid true accountability. They're attempting to normalize gun violence in schools. Zwerner was trained and hired as a teacher. She's not a cop, who is armed and empowered to use lethal force.
"In a perfect world, no teacher would ever be injured by one of their students at school… or anywhere," the attorneys wrote. "However, unruly students and bad behavior are all too common in schools across the country, and Newport News is sadly not immune to this."
That kid wasn't unruly. He didn't kick her in the shin and hold his breath until she let him play with a toy. He fucking shot her.
Last month, a grand jury indicted the six-year-old shooter's mother, Deja Taylor, for felony child neglect and a misdemeanor charge of endangering a child by reckless storage of a firearm. The felony charge is punishable by up to five years and prison and the misdemeanor charge carries another year. According to Taylor's lawyer, James Ellenson, she has no criminal record and insists her weapon was safely secured on a top shelf with a trigger lock. She's either terribly mistaken or her son is a Houdini-style savant. The child is not being charged, as Virginia law surprisingly does not allow charges on children under seven because they are children under seven.
It was reported that the child has an “acute disability” that requires his mother or father accompanying him to school every day. The shooting occurred the first week a parent wasn't with him. This seems like another area where the school administrators might've failed everyone involved.
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As someone who has devoted a significant amount of his life to education, I can say with total confidence that most school administrators would rather take their chances with a teacher getting shot rather than take preventive action that might upset the parents.
Abby Zwerner has sued the Newport News school board for $40 million.
This being a public school district, I assume that's about three times their annual budget?