Saturday, December 20, 2008

Where Now?

I went to a meeting recently for a student who recently transferred here from another state. This elementary school student was expelled from school for bringing an airsoft gun to school. He took it out at recess and threatened to shoot students while holding it to their heads. He apparently also actually did shoot a few students. Airsoft guns are "relatively" safe and I don't think any students were actually injured. A few days after this the student's parent was incarcerated - I don't know for what - and the other parent, who lives in our district, gained emergency custody.
This parent enrolls the student at the local elementary school without saying anything about what's happened until the student's first day. On that day, the parent requested a meeting with the principal to inform him of the situation. So now the student is being tutored outside of school pending a safety screening to determine if it's safe for him to attend school.
In this meeting I kept thinking, "Where now?" for this kid. He needs some immediate mental health service and removal from his previous environment may be life altering and I hope it is. It's terrifying to think what's next for this student. I don't mean for me or the other students but for him. That's a lot of weight to carry around with you at such an early age.

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