Richneck Update: No trigger lock, teacher victim fired
Abby Zwerner is the teacher who was shot in the hand and chest by her 6-year-old student at Richneck Elementary School back in January. It’s recently been reported she was fired from the school, or resigned, depending on who you talk to.
According to an email exchange between Ms. Zwerner and Newport News Public Schools (NNPS) that was obtained by local media, the NNPS “processed a separation of employment for her effective the close of business 06/12/2023.” That email was sent on May 22nd.
According to Ms. Zwerner’s attorney, the school district was acting like she was on a worker’s comp leave. They are said to have sent her worker’s comp payments, but she returned those payments. She had applied for disability through the city of Newport News, but never received a response. Her attorney claims that she hasn’t been paid since February.
The school claims Ms. Zwerner missed the deadline to file for disability, even though she told the school she could not access the intent form needed. She was then asked if it was her intent to resign, to which she is said to have replied,“I wish to resign. Thank you.”
An NNPS spokesperson issued the following statement to local media…
The email that Ms. Zwerner received from the Human Resources Department is a confirmation of her separation of service from Newport News Public Schools. Every employee who is separating from the school division receives a similar communication. Ms. Zwerner notified the Human Resources Department that she was resigning from her position as a teacher for NNPS on March 13, 2023.
Ms. Zwerner was an employee of Newport News Public Schools until June 12, 2023, the last day of her contract.
The same spokesperson also gave this response to local news station WAVY…
Immediately following the shooting incident on January 6, the Human Resources Department began processing workers’ compensation for Ms. Zwerner. Typical NNPS protocol is for the injured employee to utilize 7 days of sick leave before workers’ compensation begins. HR leadership did not process the 7 days of sick leave (an exercise of discretion based on the unusual situation). Ms. Zwerner was on admin leave with pay until workers’ compensation payments began. Like other Richneck employees, Ms. Zwerner was paid for the time that Richneck was closed for staff and students (she was not charged sick leave during this time).
“Ms. Zwerner refused workers’ compensation, so HR staff used her sick leave to continue compensation for Ms. Zwerner. When Ms. Zwerner’s sick leave was exhausted, she was placed on unpaid FMLA, in accordance with federal law and school board policy. Had Ms. Zwerner accepted workers’ compensation, she would have received 66 2/3% of her average weekly wages tax-free.”
Is there some time when you become part of an administrative staff where you become inhuman? Or maybe there’s a lab where HR people and administrators are specifically bred to have all human emotion removed.
We’re talking about a teacher who not only literally took a bullet for the school, but had warned the school about the gun long before she was shot. Also, keep in mind, school administrators refused to do anything about the gun after multiple warnings from Zwerner and others by allegedly saying the school day was almost over. But I’m sure this red-tape bureaucratic bullshit has nothing to do with the fact that Abby Zwerner is suing the school for $40 million.
Abby Zwerner is a hero who escorted the other first-graders out of the school while bleeding with a bullet lodged in her chest. But this is what bureaucracies and corporate structures do to real heroes. They make them out to be the bad guy, no matter the circumstances. “Well, yeah, she got shot, but she didn’t file her TPS reports on time”.
Remember kids, when you work in a government or corporate position, your work is not your friend. They have no problem swapping you out for another warm body. Keep in mind that HR departments are there to protect the business and not the employees. Virginia is also an at-will state, which means any company or government office can fire anyone they want for just about any reason.
Then there’s Deja Taylor, the mother of the 6-year-old shooter and owner of the gun used in the shooting. Previously, it had been stated that the gun was kept on a shelf out of the boy’s reach and protected by a trigger lock. Since then, that’s been revealed not to be the case. According to reports, investigators never found a trigger lock at Taylor’s residence.
More recently, it’s been revealed that Ms. Taylor told police she thought the gun was in her purse on top of her dresser with a trigger lock in place. She also told police the key to the trigger lock was kept under the mattress. If that was truly the case, that’s probably the worse place to hide such an important key. When I was around this kid’s age, I knew to look under the mattress to try to find things I wasn’t supposed to see. But again, no trigger lock was ever found. The child was even said to have exclaimed “I shot that b**** dead,” “I did it,” and “I got my mom’s gun last night.” Again, keep in mind the child has severe learning and mental disabilities.
Since the shooting, Taylor was charged by the state of Virginia with a felony charge of child neglect, and a misdemeanor charge of endangering a child by reckless storage of a firearm. It’s the federal charges where things get messy. Back in June, Taylor pled guilty to illegally obtaining and possessing a firearm and making a false statement during the purchase of a firearm. It seems Taylor is an avid cannabis user. This is not surprising considering her alleged history of miscarriages and PTSD. When people with mental health issues don’t have access to adequate and affordable mental health care, they sometimes turn to self-medication.
You see, while cannabis is legal for personal use in Virginia, it’s still a banned substance by the federal government. The federal background check form asks potential gun owners if they are frequent uses of any banned substance, and Taylor indicated she wasn’t on the form. This is considered the false statement during her purchase of her gun.
This charge carries a maximum of 25 years, even I think that’s a little extreme. However, prosecutors who accepted Taylor’s plea are looking for a 12–24 month sentence. I still think that’s too harsh of a sentence. Who does that sentence help in the long run? At last report, the boy’s father has been on the run for three years after failing to appear in court on domestic violence charges, for which Taylor was the victim. So, I guess the special needs child is supposed to go without his mother for up to two years so federal prosecutors can get their pound of flesh.
I guess we’ll find out when Taylor is sentenced in October.
(Sources)
- Teacher shot by first-grader was fired, attorney says. Email to division: ‘I wish to resign’
- Teacher shot by first-grader no longer works for district
- Mother of 6-year-old who shot teacher will plead guilty to federal felony charges in deal with prosecutors
- Deja Taylor, mother of 6-year-old who shot teacher in Virginia, to face new federal gun charges
- Mother of six-year-old who shot teacher charged with federal gun crimes
- Richneck shooter’s mother pleads guilty to federal gun, marijuana charges
- Father of 6-year-old Richneck shooter has several gun, assault charges on his record
- Former federal prosecutor gives insight into Deja Taylor’s plea
- ‘I shot that b**** dead’: Child who shot Richneck teacher admitted to shooting, court documents claim
