How the Left’s ‘Equity’ Obsession Enabled a Virginia School Shooting

Teachers at Richneck Elementary in Newport News warned administrators three times, just hours before their colleague was killed on January 6, 2023. “acute disability” His threat to his classmates was with a gun.

A teacher was concerned when an administrator denied the report. “little pockets.” A second time, the administrator rescinded threats to another student. An administrator then said, “wait the situation out because the school day was almost over,” According to Abigail Zwerner’s attorney, the teacher of 25 years was shot and killed by her student.

The administrators—including Principal Briana Foster Newton and Assistant Principal Ebony Parker, who both left the school in the wake of the shooting—were obligated to take each of these threats seriously and report them to local law enforcement. They didn’t.

Their inaction may be attributable to an Obama-era policy in Virginia that Terry McAuliffe fostered. In 2014, Obama Education Department threatened To launch civil rights investigations in districts that have disproportionately disciplined students of color or those with disabilities, and to press public schools to adopt policies that reduce disciplinary measures.

Max Eden, an education researcher at the American Enterprise Institute, said that the move meant schools were no longer considered educational. “successful” Their administrators did not keep their disciplinary levels down.

“It should be shocking that they would ignore those warnings,” He spoke highly of Richneck Elementary administrators. “But after a certain point, when you are judged on the basis of warnings like that not being recorded, not abiding by a measure that would lead to it being recorded actually makes perfect sense.”

McAuliffe in Virginia made it possible. “high priority” His administration “to reduce student referrals to law enforcement, reduce suspensions and expulsions, [and] address the disparate impact these practices have on African Americans and students with disabilities,” His a part of “Classrooms not Courtrooms” Initiative.

He found support from groups such as Legal Aid Justice Center. It was successful Remove Police from Virginia schools This group also encouraged state Democrats in Virginia to reduce racial disparities within school discipline. Authoring Many Reports You can find more information on the subject.  It didn’t respond to our request for comment.

Between 2015 and 2020, Virginia Democrats passed several bills that discourage schools from disciplining students.