The assistant principal of Richneck Elementary School has resigned weeks after the shooting of first grade teacher Abigail Zwerner.
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Dr. Ebony Parker resigned from her position at the school amid the allegations that school administrators ignored the concerns of Zwerner and other teachers regarding the six-year-old boy’s troubling behavior. According to the New York Post, Dr. Parker’s resignation was confirmed by district spokesperson Michelle Price and Zwerner’s lawyer Diana Toscano said in a statement that her client is filing a lawsuit against the school district.
As previously reported, several teachers including Zwerner expressed concerns about the boy’s disruptive and violent behavior in the classroom months prior to the shooting. In a group message, the teachers expressed how administration reportedly ignored those concerns despite the boy expressing sentiments of wanting to harm his teacher and preventing his classmates from leaving their classroom at one point.
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It is unclear whether Dr. Parker was one of those administrators who turned down the teacher’s concerns and an anonymous administrator spoke with the outlet quesioning her resignation. “However, the forced resignation of one of the administrators from Richneck does not resolve the failure of the district as a whole to put procedures in place to prevent this from happening again,” they said in a statement.
The boy’s parents released a statement about the shooting two weeks ago and sent their well wishes to Zwerner while she was recovering from the gunshot wounds at a local hospital.
“Our heart goes out to our son’s teacher, and we pray for her healing in the aftermath of such an unimaginable tragedy as she selflessly served our son and the children in the school. She has worked diligently and compassionately to support our family as we sought the best education and learning environment for our son,”
Families also called for the termination of Superintendent Dr. George Parker III after a voting during a meeting with the Newport News school district and he will be relieved from his duties on February 1 said School Board Chairwoman Dr. Lisa Surles-Law.
“Effective Feb. 1, Dr. Parker will be relieved of his duties as superintendent of Newport News Public Schools. It is important that we state that this decision was made without cause, cause being defined in his previous contract, as Dr. Parker is a capable division leader who served Newport News for nearly five years through some extremely challenging circumstances.
“This decision is based on the future trajectory and needs of our school division. In addition, I must relate, we do appreciate the progress for the division under Dr. Parker’s leadership in developing a long-range facility improvement plan and expanded student programs through a focus on mentorship and student leadership. The Newport News School Board thanks him for his service and wishes him nothing but the best moving forward.”