7th grader going back to school after shooting mom

[Zedicus]

Say What???

http://www.ktvb.com/news/localnews/stories/ktvbn-feb0808-vale_student_return.a299b0f0.html

7th grader going back to school after shooting mom
07:01 PM MST on Friday, February 8, 2008

VALE, Ore. -- A 12-year-old boy who shot his mom three-and-a-half months ago in Vale, Oregon, is headed back to school with his classmates.

While a number of parents are upset, school officials say they have no choice.

Tyler Flint shot and wounded his mom, and was arrested and charged with aggravated assault in the second-degree.

Now just a few months after the Oct. 30th shooting, Flint has been deemed OK to return to school.

Flint is a 7th grader at Vale Middle School. On Monday, he will go back to school.

While the district attorney wasn't available to talk about the case, Linda Cummings with Oregon’s Juvenile Department of Corrections says Flint has no previous criminal record, he's attended counseling, and has had several psychological evaluations.

Because he doesn't appear to be a risk, Cummings says it's the district’s duty to educate the child.

“Do you feel it is safe for Tyler Flint to go back to school?” asked NewsChannel 7.

“Both the evaluations that he has had says that he's a very low risk to return, and he's also received individual counseling and that counselor also feels he is a very low risk," said Cummings

The district has been preparing for Flint’s return. He will continuously be checking in with officers, and the school has a safety plan in place.

Flint has been under house arrest, and living with his grandparents since the shooting.

His mother has asked that her son be able to live with her again.

NewsChannel 7 talked to parents who are upset about the boy’s return. They don't feel safe about it.

But we also talked to one man who says the child deserves an education and a second chance.

The school would not comment about Flint's return, but they did give us this statement:

“This incident has run its course through our legal system. The child is a resident of the Vale School District and the district has a legal responsibility to provide this child with an education.”

 

[bloodedsky]

The school really doesn't have a choice; it could (and probably would) get sued, were it to deny the child a right to receive an education there. This particular article says more about our legal system than our schools, I think.

 

[Vermont]

Where's the problem? He's paying his debt to society and they are giving him another chance. He's 12. I don't think we should be so quick to give up on this kid. If we do, he's just going to be a criminal for the rest of his life, in and out of jail, sapping the money that we pay in taxes. The school seems to have put appropriate precautions in place.

Maybe you've forgotten what 12 year olds are like. I coach Little League, and even the ones who think they're tough are really little cry babies inside. They aren't the kind of evil hardened criminals we should be putting in jail for life. This kid probably needs some guidance, help, and a little compassion more than anything.

 

[Don Gwinn]

The school doesn't have a choice, but they need to look into what can be done. One option would be to put the kid into a self-contained classroom, where he doesn't leave all day unless an adult is with him. Expensive, but it might make a difference. Another approach would be to send him out to an "alternative" school. Most places have these nowadays, since we're too kind and gentle to expel a child and tell him he's on his own. If he's dangerous or his behavior is beyond the pale, you send him to an alternative setting where the teacher ratio is perhaps 1:3 or 1:5, where no student is ever alone, where calming techniques and anger management lessons that would disrupt a normal school are the norm. 7th grade would be the youngest student allowed to attend the alternative school here, though, and it may be too young where he lives.

The big deal for a school will be during unstructured times of the day. Before school, after school, lunch, passing periods, gym locker rooms . . . . even if he really is in a fit state of mind to go to school (which I very much doubt, but hell, he won't be the only one) I'll guarantee that if he's allowed to have that unstructured time, there are several kids in that school who think this is a cool chance to bully somebody who totally deserves it. Why, it's almost a public service . . . . right? They'll push him until he snaps again if they're given the chance. Kids that age work a child's weakness like a terrier with a bone.
On the other hand, total lack of any free time without adult supervision can drive a 12-year-old just as nuts.

This kid actually snapped and shot his mom, which is terrible. Just remember, if your kids are in a public school or most private schools, there are kids in that school with them who have seen true horrors in their lives. Murders. Rapes. Neglected babies. The school where I teach has the reputation of being the snooty place where the test scores are always high and all the kids are rich, and there's some truth to that, but I've got students who have seen things that would curl your toes. Some of them think such things are perfectly normal.

 

[Don Gwinn]

Obviously, I'm not saying the school hasn't done everything I discuss above and more; I'm just trying to give an idea what kind of options they have under the law. Even that might be inaccurate; Oregon's state laws might require something Illinois doesn't. But everything I brought up is OK under the feds.

 

[MarshallDodge]

Why blame the kid, it's the guns fault anyway.

 

[Aguila Blanca]

“Do you feel it is safe for Tyler Flint to go back to school?” asked NewsChannel 7.

“Both the evaluations that he has had says that he's a very low risk to return, and he's also received individual counseling and that counselor also feels he is a very low risk," said Cummings

Am I the only one who finds Ms. Cummings response to be rather evasive?

 

[Tommygunn]

"Do you feel it is safe . . . "

Everything's feelings. Does anyone "know" it's safe for this kid to return, though? Was he "safe" in school the day before he shot his mother? At that point no one even asked the question for good reason.
I guess in the end it's the word of the therapist who worked with the kid; it's his "best estimate."
No one can "know" without more experience dealing with the kid in class. And as a earlier poster said, kids that age often are good at bullying.

 

[Claude Clay]

same decision if their child was a classmate?

the people's who decide the child can go back ( government employees all ) should be required to send their children to the same schools, busses,streets, etc as those who pay their salaries. let them be exposed to the environment their decisions create
same goes for parole board members and......you feed at the trough; you live in the same barn yard. rant off

 

[Vermont]

Does anyone "know" it's safe for this kid to return, though?

You never know that someone won't hurt someone else. Most of the people who shoot up their school or a mall have not shot anyone before. The best you can do is "feel" or believe that it's safe.

 

[Sage of Seattle]

You know, I feel for the kid and especially the mom in this case; I can SORT OF understand the school's position.

HOWEVER, what chaps my hide in all of this is simply this: what ever happened to a proper, reasonable response here? I mean, we've got story after story of children being suspended and EXPELLED for drawing pictures of gun-like objects or making statements about protecting oneself from BULLIES or taking aspirin at school even though the parents knew about it, or bringing a butter knife to school to cut an apple or on and on.

And now, when a child ACTUALLY PULLS THE TRIGGER ON HIS MOTHER FOR GOD'S SAKE, then... well.... golly. No harm, no foul, right? It's all hunky-dory, let's just get him back into school again because we can't leave any child behind. Except of course, for those children who play tag on the playground, or give their best friend a hug. We need to send a message, doncha know?

 

[brigadier]

Sage of Seattle, I am with you on this one. We need to have some consistency here. Things really have gotten out of hand. Heck, I won a contest in Elementary school by drawing a picture of a shotgun. Just goes to show how quickly things have gotten very radical.
What really concerns me is the education our kids really are getting. My father and I recently had a long discussion about this. When I was 3, he took me out and taught me to shoot a .22 rifle and then fired his .30-06 and .44 Magnum at milk jugs full of food coloring. It really had an impression on me and I grew up knowing that all the shooting action movies were make believe having early on seen the difference between entertainment media and the real thing.
Today, our kids are being filled full of violent video games and action movies, which is fine, but at the same time, these kids need a glimpse of the real thing. One thing we discussed is the idea of the students, perhaps once or twice a year, being taken to a police firing range and the police shoot at something like milk jugs with food coloring or watermelons with real guns so the students can see the difference. I doubt it'll reduce school shootings and certainly not eliminate them, but it'll definitely serve to teach these kids to reconsider how they behave with real firearms. That, perhaps, may have prevented this shooting, though I really don't know much about it.

 

[Dorryn]

In one of the schools a friend of mine works in, I met one of his students who had Intermittent Explosive Disorder. This kid was also in 7th grade, weighed about 95 lbs, skinny as heck. He was referred to special needs after allegedly attacking a police officer. (A conflict he couldnt have even possibly hoped to have won!) Having interacted with this student several times, he was unfailingly polite and considerate of others, often took care of things without being told. This student may have had a similar disorder or issues.

Just because a gun or violence was involved does not mean a student is irredeemable. Its even better that he has a chance to resolve whatever issues may have existed at the time. If his own mother, whom he shot, is willing to take him back, then maybe the counselor and the school district are not wrong to allow him back.

 

[Atticus]

From whom did the 12 year old get the gun to shoot his mother? It sounds like a change to the kid's family situation might have improved things.

 

[Sage of Seattle]

One thing we discussed is the idea of the students, perhaps once or twice a year, being taken to a police firing range and the police shoot at something like milk jugs with food coloring or watermelons with real guns so the students can see the difference. I doubt it'll reduce school shootings and certainly not eliminate them, but it'll definitely serve to teach these kids to reconsider how they behave with real firearms.

Good point, brigadier. This is something I'm going to do with my own children.

Just because a gun or violence was involved does not mean a student is irredeemable. Its even better that he has a chance to resolve whatever issues may have existed at the time.

I, for one, am not saying that the child is irredeemable or a lost cause or that the child is a definite threat, excepting the fact that the child DID, in fact, take action to shoot his own mother. Maybe the only pertinent factor in the decision not to expel the kid was that the behavior didn't happen on school grounds; I don't know. But when I hear stories of "your kid needs help because he drew a picture of a gun," but "our hands are tied when it comes to a kid who shot his mom." Gimme a freakin' break.

If his own mother, whom he shot, is willing to take him back, then maybe the counselor and the school district are not wrong to allow him back.

Not to detract from forgiveness and redemption, but the vast majority of abused women (and men) for example take their abusive mates back again, time after time. Just because the mother wants her child back doesn't NECESSARILY mean that it's safe for her to do so, or that the kid learned from his terrible actions. Again, I say this not to imply that it's the case in this instance, but I wouldn't pay too much attention to her desires at this point -- not until I knew more about the events leading up to the shooting and what their relationship is and if the boy has friends and so on.

 

[TEDDY]

Children

I see nothing about the circomstance that brought on the shooting.just that he shot his mother.was the mother abusive ?we dont know do we?and the mother survived so he did not make sure she was dead.may be he was defending himself against her.where did the gun come from?so many questions so few answeres.but a lot of comment that are guesses.
---

 

[Lupinus]

Hello!?!

The kid shot his mother. Now if it was an accident, one thing. But it obviously wasn't if there is charges. Theres a screw loose there