The Virginia school district that oversees the school where first-grade teacher Abby Zwerner was shot claims she should only be entitled to workers’ compensation in response to her lawsuit.
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Her complaint was filed earlier this month in Newport News Circuit Court, which states the school district and administrators ignored multiple warning signs, which included other warnings about the student’s behavior from other staff members from Richneck Elementary School. The school’s then-assistant principal Dr. Ebony Parker reportedly ignored complaints from staff that the six-year-old boy might have been carrying a gun on the day of Zwerner’s shooting.
The school board said the Zwerner was “clearly injured while at work, at her place of employment, by a student in the classroom.” Additionally, the school board rejected Zwerner’s claim that she could reasonably expect to work with young children who pose no danger, referencing several acts of violence against teachers in the United States and Newport News.
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Zwerner was reportedly approved for workers’ compensation which covers injuries without proving negligence, and it allows 500 weeks of compensation plus lifetime care for injuries. The school board claims she refused workers’ compensation, alleging she is more “strategically focused on the use of a handgun as opposed to some other weapon with less perceived notoriety and shock value.”
“If the allegations in the complaint substituted ‘sharp scissors’ for ‘gun’ and John Doe stabbed (Zwerner) in the neck in the classroom, there would be no doubt that the injury would fall under workers’ compensation,
The school district also opposed her claims that the student shouldn’t remain in her classroom despite a previous incident where he strangled his kindergarten teacher and pulled the dress of a fellow student who fell. He was transferred to another institution until he was enrolled in Zwerner’s classroom.
According to Fox Business, Zwerner’s attorney said the lawsuit challenges the school board’s argument that the shooting is a workers’ compensation matter. “No 6-year-old student is really going to be a risk of shooting a teacher. It’s not a part of their job. It’s not a night 7/11 worker. And so I think the worker’s comp defense will fail,” said her attorney Jeffrey Breit.
A school board in Newport News, Virginia, has filed a motion to dismiss the $40 million lawsuit brought by Abby Zwerner, the teacher who was shot by a 6-year-old student in January. pic.twitter.com/huIeXcdXNx
— TODAY (@TODAYshow) April 28, 2023
Supporters of Zwerner also opposed the school board’s motion and said the situation is not considered workers’ compensation because she could’ve lost her life.
Wait…what? The NNSD is asserting that being shot by a 6 yr old child is a reasonably foreseeable, and acceptable (therefore insurable under workman’s comp), risk of teaching in Va?
— W.J.Wylie3 it was an attempted coup not a riot (@BillWylie3rd) April 28, 2023
Being shot at work should not be covered as a job hazard unless you are in the military or sadly law enforcement. If it is considered a possible job hazard teachers need to get hazardous duty pay instead of low pay.
— Taz’s mom (@BonneHargan) April 28, 2023
No. Let it stand. As a former teacher I know all too well how the teachers often don’t get the support they need from the administration with disruptive students.
— Lucieloo (@Lucieloo20) April 28, 2023