Apples and oranges
LBJ student shot in the chin at school
High school student charged with assault
Monica Torres, a 15-year-old student at LBJ High School in Northeast Austin was taking pictures of other students in her English class as they rehearsed a class play. She was shot in the chin by a BB gun, one of three that were brought into the class as props for their rendition of Romeo and Juliet (apparently they were reproducing the DiCaprio/Danes version over the Bard’s classic venue).
“I was taking pictures and I didn’t even know that I had got shot until I started bleeding � I didn’t feel anything; it just went numb,” Torres said.
The BB is still embedded in Torres’ chin. Doctors told the family it must be surgically removed by a plastic surgeon or she risks scarring.
The student who fired the BB gun has been suspended indefinitely and charged with criminal assault. The teacher has been placed on administrative leave.
“The teacher was aware that this was a BB gun and and was used solely for the purposes as a prop. I don’t think her intentions were to get something hurtful on campus, only to use that in what she felt was instruction, but obviously that was a poor choice,” Sgt. J.J. Schmidt of Austin ISD Police Department said.
At this time it is unknown whether the gun discharged accidentally or intentionally but the school has jumped on the student all the same. Immediate and indefinite suspension plus criminal prosecution. For inappropriate or accidental discharge of a school supplied item? That is outrageous.
Yes, suspend the teacher. Bringing BB guns into school is a moronic and generally unforgivable error for a teacher to make. Whether or not somebody was injured that teacher needs a cold and hard evaluation and probably a job change. There is simply no excuse for a teacher not knowing better than to have BB guns in the classroom. As for the student; this is a travesty. He was handling an item that his teacher told him to handle. Did he know it was loaded? Or did he assume that there was no way in hell that his teacher would have a loaded BB-gun in the classroom?
“What if it had been a real gun, you know? I’d be looking at something a lot worse,” [Torres’ mother Cathy] Hernandez said.
Well, that would also be something completely different. Apples and oranges. I’ve been hit by a remote control car and never speculated about how much worse it would have been if it had been a real car because the two things are different by an order of magnitude. Unfortunately the school doesn’t seem to posses that sense of scope. They also seem to be trying to place the entire blame for the incident on the student when the school itself is ultimately responsible for the BB gun being there.
The crime here is being young. Guilty! Off with their heads! When are the people in charge going to grow up and get over being threatened by their own children, just because they are young? What is it that is so scarry about youth… I don’t get it.
I think there’s plenty of blame to go around here. The teacher for bringing the BB gun into the school in the first place, and possibly for not ensuring it was unloaded and that the students were instructed in how (not) to handle it. The student who fired the gun for either intentional assualt (if he meant to pull the trigger) or negligence (if it was an accident). The school for failing to properly supervise the teacher.
Holding the student responsible is entirely appropriate, especially since someone got hurt.
But the administration also needs to hold the teacher responsible, and take a good hard look at itself as well.
Remember when kids actually owned their own BB guns — sometimes as young as 6 or 8 years old?
And when schools had riflery teams, and the kids stored the guns in their lockers?
Sigh!
Whether the student is actually culpable would, in my humble opinion, depend entirely on what instructions were given by the teacher and how the weapon was discharged. For example the teacher may have simply handed them out without issuing any cautions and the BB gun being fired at all could have been completely accidental.
Given that we don’t know the particulars beyond the fact that the teacher allowed three BB guns into the classroom I’m not going to speculate on the kids guilt, besides noting that the school’s handling of him is complete overkill and has all the appearance of being a blame transfer move.
Texas Teacher - And isn’t it amazing how few incidents occured with students who were educated and trained with guns?
I have to agree with Jim on this one.
It is entirely possible the teacher brought in unloaded BB guns and the student brought the BBs.
Either way, I think criminal prosecution is really overreaching. Kids have accidents with BB guns. It needs to be handled appropriately… I just don’t think Johnny Law needs to be called in.
The teacher shouldn’t have had the gun in the classroom like that. If he wanted a ‘realistic’ gun for the play, he could have filled the barrel with lead or some other substance that would render the gun’s ability to fire a projectile useless.
Either way, this entire debacle is a mistake. There is no (from the article) intent to injure others. Treating the case as an assault goes too far.