Authorities in Tennessee are holding a fourth grade teacher accused of shooting and wounding two principals at his school. It happened during a snow day yesterday in Knox County Tennessee. The kids had all been sent home before he allegedly opened fire, critically wounding one of the women but putting both of them in the hospital.
A former employer is quoted as saying this same suspect was arrested in the 1990's for making threats toward him and carrying weapons.
The suspect's brother says his family tried earlier this year to get a restraining order on the guy because of "mental problems." It was denied.
Okay, first question: why didn't the school district know any of this? And if his arrest history was known, why did they hire him to teach fourth graders? Sure it's unfair to armchair quarterback but come on! An arrest record for threats of armed violence?
The topics "violence" and "schools" bring to mind a couple of ridiculous experiences I had while on book tour.
The first one occurred at the high school in the town where I live. They invited me to talk during a symposium called Focus on the Arts, about my job as a crime reporter. I walked in the door and they handed me a sheet of instructions that listed all of the subjects I was not allowed to mention. School policy dictated no discussion of such things as: violence, death, guns, knives, street gangs, murder, blood, gore ... all of which which were, of course, the daily makeup of my job...that I had been invited to describe.
The second took place at a large high school in a nearby suburb. The son of a friend was in an English class and his teacher invited me to lecture on writing mysteries. She emphasized to me beforehand that she was quite the true-crime buff and invited me to feel free to talk about my work as a crime reporter as well.
What greeted me when I walked into the classroom was a lifesize poster of John Wayne Gacy. Next to it, grim pictures of Jeffery Dahmer and a host of other well-known serial murderers. The true-crime buff was true to her word. Along with having her class learn about fictional mysteries, she had instructed them to pick their favorite serial killer, from a list she provided, study up on him, and write a paper. Some of the students admitted to me later they had never heard of their "favorite" before the class and had nightmares from doing their research.
Oh, but the best part of the class was the Q and A session! Right before it began, teach passed out the questions. Made sense, I thought. Some students might be embarrassed to ask stuff in front of the class, or might bring up inappropriate topics. Was I ever surprised. "Have you seen a lot of dead people?"; "When you were a cop, did you kill anyone?": "What's the grossest thing you have ever seen?"
School daze for sure.
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