And Fitzpatrick honestly believes that I'm going to buy that a casual bomb threat called directly to the secretary would not result in a total lockdown and/or evacuation of the school? Or that, surprise, surprise, there's no consequences to it the next day?
My Environmental Science class was held hostage one Monday by a disgruntled student who had apparently figured out before he got his test back that day that oops, he'd flunked. I'm certain of this, in fact, because he brought his father's handgun to school that day. (This was before there were metal detectors in schools. Also, the kid was at a private school where admin wouldn't admit that crimes existed.)
Said kid proceeded to half-load the handgun, removed the safety, and then walked up and down the aisle, occasionally pausing to press the gun barrel against someone's head, spin the barrel (yep, old-fashioned revolver) and pulling the trigger. I was one of the targets. Fortunately the gun did not blow anyone's head off, but it could have.
The student body president and one of the football players eventually got the gun away from the creep (tossing it in a wastebasket, and it DID go off then) and frog-marched him down to the principal's office. The teacher followed and supported their story.
This was what happened the next day:
NOTHING.
No cops. No apologies sent to parents. No counselors to help the traumatized kids who were held hostage and either forced to play Russian roulette or forced to watch and do nothing as the gunman played with his targets. No searches of lockers or bookbags to see if anyone else was carrying. Just...nothing.
Oh, and the gunman? Suspended. Not expelled. Not arrested. Suspended. It was supposed to be for eight weeks, but he was back within the month. (And he didn't get any preventative support from the school, either.)
Most of my classmates didn't think that you could even get expelled for committing first-degree murder after that.
As nearly as possible, it was swept under the rug and never spoken of. I don't think the suspended kid's official record even admitted that he had taken his class hostage. According to one girl who worked in the admin offices and who sneaked a peek at the boy's records, he was suspended for "showing traces of violent tendencies."
no subject
My Environmental Science class was held hostage one Monday by a disgruntled student who had apparently figured out before he got his test back that day that oops, he'd flunked. I'm certain of this, in fact, because he brought his father's handgun to school that day. (This was before there were metal detectors in schools. Also, the kid was at a private school where admin wouldn't admit that crimes existed.)
Said kid proceeded to half-load the handgun, removed the safety, and then walked up and down the aisle, occasionally pausing to press the gun barrel against someone's head, spin the barrel (yep, old-fashioned revolver) and pulling the trigger. I was one of the targets. Fortunately the gun did not blow anyone's head off, but it could have.
The student body president and one of the football players eventually got the gun away from the creep (tossing it in a wastebasket, and it DID go off then) and frog-marched him down to the principal's office. The teacher followed and supported their story.
This was what happened the next day:
NOTHING.
No cops. No apologies sent to parents. No counselors to help the traumatized kids who were held hostage and either forced to play Russian roulette or forced to watch and do nothing as the gunman played with his targets. No searches of lockers or bookbags to see if anyone else was carrying. Just...nothing.
Oh, and the gunman? Suspended. Not expelled. Not arrested. Suspended. It was supposed to be for eight weeks, but he was back within the month. (And he didn't get any preventative support from the school, either.)
Most of my classmates didn't think that you could even get expelled for committing first-degree murder after that.
As nearly as possible, it was swept under the rug and never spoken of. I don't think the suspended kid's official record even admitted that he had taken his class hostage. According to one girl who worked in the admin offices and who sneaked a peek at the boy's records, he was suspended for "showing traces of violent tendencies."
TRACES.
TRACES of violent tendencies.
Yeah.