Translation
"Holliday said that, on the day she worked at Richneck, one boy shoved another during recess and the boy scraped his knee. The injured boy had to go to the nurse’s office for treatment.
Afterward, the principal came to the classroom and told the boys to calm down because they were shouting, Holliday said. The principal filed a report about the shoving incident. Holliday said that, after the experience, she decided she would not substitute at Richneck Elementary School again."
^ There is no school on the planet where this type of thing between kids doesn't occur regularly. This is not a huge issue - you talk with the kids doing the 'shoving' and tell them that's not acceptable.
It was silly to include this in the article.
"There have been three shootings on school grounds in Newport News since late 2021."
^ That's about average for any county in the U.S., isn't it?
"the district is purchasing 90 metal detectors to install at all Newport News schools and acquiring clear backpacks to hand out to students."
^ This is an obvious example of a country that has failed.
Several years ago, I was asked to go into a school to work one-on-one with a 6 year old girl who was misbehaving and 'disturbing the class'. The girl had some developmental problems.
On my first day with her, as I was sent to an empty classroom with the girl, her teacher gave me crayons, a colouring book, and scissors, and told me "Be careful with the scissors - she likes to stab people."
I looked at the teacher, smiled, and replied "That won't be a problem."
And it never was a problem in the 2 school years I worked with this girl. I never had even the slightest problem with her. She and I got along great, and she was wonderful to work with.
What I saw was a school and a system whereby this little 6 year old girl had a guidance counselor, a social worker, a 'behavioural therapist', a psychologist, a psychiatrist, a neurologist, and 2 or 3 other 'specialists' involved with her. Every couple of weeks, whosever turn it was would try their 'cure' on her, which consisted of drugs from those who could prescribe them. Her 'medication' changed every few weeks - and sometimes she had none.
After getting to know this girl through working with her (and never having any hint of a problem with her), I told all of those 'professional experts' - for whom this little girl was merely a 'client' - "Stop trying to fix her. She is not broken. She's a wonderful, funny, intelligent, caring little girl. She's simply different from most kids. That does not mean that she is bad, or that she is defective. She's just different - and that's ok. The times when she acts out are because you are telling her - by word and deed - that she is not normal and needs to be fixed. Treat her well and with the same respect you show other kids, and she'll be fine."
I'm not drawing a parallel between this little girl and the boy who shot his teacher, and I'm not saying that the solution with this boy is simple... but just to show that very often with children who are 'different' from others, the better you treat them, the less trouble they will cause.
