Couldn't happen at a worse time: Teacher fired shot, became barricaded inside Dalton High School

[Bang!]

If you’re looking for rainbows and unicorns you’re not going to find it. Evil exist. Guns or no guns. Pointy things or no pointy things. Clubs, rocks, or whatever. Evil will find a way. We no longer hear of drunk drivers. 28 people on average killed every day by a drunk driver. No media coverage. Nada. Texting, driving, dying...nada. Chicago every week and a lot on weekends...nada. Everyone in the country is locked on to the news media soap operas. They’re selling commercials and America is doing a lot of hand wringing and waiting for the next episode of “How the World Turns”. No hurricanes or tsunamis of late but AR’s in schools sure get the ratings up. How many thousands, THOUSANDS, have wrongfully died since the tragedy in Florida? Why no national debate for the thousands? Or as another post recently read, “where’s the outrage?” Why national outrage for the 17 but not the thousands? Is it because the Main Stream Media dictates to us what is important and what is not?

 

[barnbwt]

This teacher seems more likely to be an agent-provacateur (albeit a suicidal one)

http://nymag.com/selectall/2018/02/dalton-georgia-student-chondi-chastain-tweets-at-nra.html

Outspoken Trump critic opposed to arming teachers.

 

[jmr40]

I live about 30 miles south of there. I'm a retired teacher who substitutes 4-8 days each month. Our local school board is/was looking into allowing teachers to carry at school. This will certainly have a negative impact on their decision.

 

[Hasaf]

I know some teachers that are gun guys. I know some that are drunks. But I know more that are liberals.

Well, let's see. . . .as a teacher (computer apps and robotics):

• Gun Guy: Pretty Much
• Drunk: No, I will have a beer once in a while; but I suspect it averages out to less than one per month. I really don't know any of the teachers here that are drunks. I am aware that the teacher that taught my class before me had a problem in that regard; but she is gone.
• liberal: I suspect that this is where the reader is supposed to ascribe all things "bad" to Liberals, and all things "good" to conservatives. Even more, the reader is to pretend that the labels "liberal" and "conservative" have any real meaning as applied to the current political parties. On this one I am in the middle. I am to the Left of many of my fellow teachers, and to the right of others.

As to:

It had to be a set up to derail getting rid of gun free zones and allowing teachers to be armed.

I doubt that it was a planned and organized set-up; at the same time, I cannot help but think that the current discussion had some play in this persons mindset and decision.

 

[GunnyUSMC]

Well, let's see. . . .as a teacher (computer apps and robotics):

• Gun Guy: Pretty Much
• Drunk: No, I will have a beer once in a while; but I suspect it averages out to less than one per month. I really don't know any of the teachers here that are drunks. I am aware that the teacher that taught my class before me had a problem in that regard; but she is gone.
• liberal: I suspect that this is where the reader is supposed to ascribe all things "bad" to Liberals, and all things "good" to conservatives. Even more, the reader is to pretend that the labels "liberal" and "conservative" have any real meaning as applied to the current political parties. On this one I am in the middle. I am to the Left of many of my fellow teachers, and to the right of others.

As to:

I doubt that it was a planned and organized set-up; at the same time, I cannot help but think that the current discussion had some play in this persons mindset and decision.

I only had two teachers, that I know of, that were heave drinkers. One kept a bottle in his desk, the other just smelled like whisky. But I did have more teachers then the average bear, I went to 4 different high schools. I have a friend that is a teacher. She starts drinking when she gets home. I think her students have drove her to drinking. The school she works at has gotten bad over the last few years.
I try to be involved with my youngest son's school and know his teachers. He's in the 7th grade. Most of his teachers are young women and more then half are anti gun. One of them is a hunter and target shooter. She told me once that she has no one at work to talk about hunting with. I get along good with her.

 

[Hasaf]

I only had two teachers, that I know of, that were heave drinkers. One kept a bottle in his desk, the other just smelled like whisky. But I did have more teachers then the average bear, I went to 4 different high schools. I have a friend that is a teacher. She starts drinking when she gets home. I think her students have drove her to drinking. The school she works at has gotten bad over the last few years.
I try to be involved with my youngest son's school and know his teachers. He's in the 7th grade. Most of his teachers are young women and more then half are anti gun. One of them is a hunter and target shooter. She told me once that she has no one at work to talk about hunting with. I get along good with her.

Four high schools here too. Three of them were in Southern California (San Gabriel Valley) and one in Northern California (Yreka).

The area I teach in is a rural school. However, due to the population and demographics, we have, what our district superintendent describes as, big city problems. We have about 375 students. As I mentioned, I have it pretty easy, I teach computer applications and robotics.

I say easy because, at least as far as I am concerned, I have an interesting subject; however, yes, I can understand why some students find it boring. In some ways I pity the students that "got stuck in" robotics. It is a hard class. These students have gotten to the eighth grade and have never completed a lab report. I was a bit shocked when I heard this and asked the Science "team." That was confirmed. The district has said no to labs at this level due to inappropriate behavior and the risk of injury. I found this out when I went to the Science teachers to get a "standard lab report" form from them

The result is that when I have them performing a test with load and no-load, then calculate the percent of change I really am speaking Greek. When I then ask them to make a prediction (form a hypothesis) about what will happen, to the rate of change, after adding a set of different sized gears to the system, they are doing something they have never done (and yes, there is a lesson about gears in this too).

As far as the "well. . . now we know you are only qualified to teach Middle School." I have taught at the university level, I even spent some time teaching at a Chinese Peoples Liberation Air-Force college (which is how I ended up in Saudi Arabia), along with colleges here in the US. Many of my co-workers have also taught at various colleges. Some of my fellow teachers, a couple of math teachers come to mind, teach evening classes at the local college; but it is mostly about ego for them. The reality is that this school pays better.

Due to federal requirements related to our student population, most of our teachers have masters in their fields. Those that don't are pushed hard to get one. No one at the secondary level (6th-12th grade), in our district, is teaching outside of their area of certification.

As far as going home and drinking after work, I don't see it. A beer or two? yes, However, no one, that I know of, is getting smashed. For one thing, we don't have the time. In addition to being expected to be at school from 7-5, we are expected to be involved in at least one extra curricular. As an example, I coach the Robotics club (we will go to our state competition at the end of this month). The guy I share an apartment with coaches basketball. I am also taking a course in teaching micro-controllers as we gear up to offer a "Robotics 2" course (the course I am signed up for is not in the widget itself, it is in presenting the widget to students in a compelling and educational manner).

I am embarrassed to say that I have been told by a few parents that they have taken their children out of a local private school for the purpose of getting them in my class. I say embarrassed because I am no "Rock Star." We have those, our band teacher is great. We have fantastic math teachers. Yes, overall we do well; but here is the disclaimer, we do will with the families that expect us to do well and take an active part in seeing that their child does well.

Okay, how does all this tie into a shooting forum. You would have a hard time finding an anti here. We have a couple, and that is about it, a couple. Several of us shoot competitively and lately the district has been testing the water to see if we want a formal competition for the teachers. It is a very pro-gun school and has a surprising number of veterans.

. . . if you are wondering how I am finding the time to type this, first, I started before school and now I am on my plan block. I don't have much plan to do because I some in on Sunday and do my plan. Further, my set up is done because I am on an alternating day schedule and I set up for today's lessons yesterday. Teaching Photoshop to seventh graders is not nearly as easy as it sounds. To add to it, there are no books at this level; so I have to use a book from the Higher Ed (College) catalogue and present it to a class that is over 1/2 ESL. It is doable. However, at the beginning they hate it. By the end of the module (apx. 5 weeks) they have pretty much all come around and are able to have some fun with it. . . . Then I introduce spreadsheets. . .

However, I just got another request from another school to convert a .jpg to a vector file . . . come on, this isn't rocket science . . .

Hopefully this has given some insight to what is happening in this, probably not so unusual, school. I don't doubt that some will latch onto a singe word, or sentence, in this as vindication of all their anti-school bias However, as far as the school, and the teachers, most do work hard. Most are not anti-gun. Most are very competent (yes, some are just average; but this isn't Lake Woebegone, everyone can't be above average).

 

[Nickotym]

I read a news report this morning that said this guy had some emotional problems, called cops to say he had hired hitmen when he hadn't, found sitting on curb dumbfounded a mile or two from school. Not real stable from the sounds of it, probably shouldn't have been teaching.

 

[22-rimfire]

This is terrible timing but in response to the tweet I would say even airbags are capable of causing more damage in certain situations. No safety system is going to prevent 100% of poor outcomes. Give me some time and maybe I could come up with something better.

This be true. Prisons are designed to keep people inside and manned with law enforcement 24-7 and yet we still have prison breaks.