A middle school teacher in eastern Texas was placed on administrative leave after he took to social media to criticize his district for allegedly not taking a student’s threat seriously.
Patrick Durbin, a 6th grade social studies teacher and coach at Waskom Middle School, said that a student threatened to shoot him on Jan. 18.
He immediately reported it to his principal and a counselor, but then saw the student who allegedly threatened him in a field house later that afternoon.
Waskom Middle School, where a student allegedly threatened a teacher last month.
(Google Maps)
“It wasn’t even reported to the police department that this kid threatened to kill a teacher in front of other students, and said he had a gun,” Durbin said in a video posted on TikTok. “Y’all wonder why teachers are getting out and quitting. It’s bad administration and people covering up for kids doing things to endanger other people’s lives.”
Rae Ann Patty, the superintendent of Waskom Independent School District (ISD), said that officials were alerted to a threat, but determined after an investigation that “at no time were students or staff in danger.”
“Mr. Durbin’s placement on administrative leave was not due to him reporting the threat to his principal. However, I am not at liberty to discuss the situation further as it is an internal personnel matter,” Patty told Fox News Digital.
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Waskom ISD said it sent out a notification to 6th grade parents about the threat, telling them that it was investigated and no students or teachers were in danger, according to KSLA.
“I feel scared for my child and her classmates,” Sarah Thompson, a parent, told the local news outlet. “I feel like there was a safety threat this morning with a student that was involved with these threats being allowed on campus.”
A shooting in a classroom at Richneck Elementary School in Newport News, Va., happened on Friday after an incident between a student and a teacher, officials said.
(Schuerman/The Virginian-Pilot, via Associated Press)
The ordeal comes amid a spate of violence at schools across the country from the elementary to college level.
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On Jan. 6, a 6-year-old boy pulled a gun out in class and shot his teacher, Abigail Zwerner, at Richneck Elementary School in Newport News, Virginia.
Zwerner now plans on suing the school district, according to her attorney, who said that other teachers and employees warned administrators multiple times that the boy had a gun on him, “but the administration could not be bothered.”
