NEWPORT NEWS, Va. — Frustration among some teachers has been building up, but the tipping point, educators said, was the shooting at Richneck Elementary School in Newport News, where police said a 6-year-old shot first-grade teacher Abby Zwerner on Jan. 6, 2023.
There was a teachers union meeting Thursday night where teachers voiced their concerns.
School discipline and safety in schools have been a huge talking point among school leaders in Newport News Public Schools, leading the education association to take steps to bring these concerns to the forefront.
As two teachers sat in front of the union and school board leaders, the common theme was wanting to see better pay for teachers. They also said teachers are afraid to speak out about issues because they're afraid of retaliation from administrators.
News 3 spoke with union President Dr. James Graves who was also a high school teacher. He said he wanted to see more stern actions when it comes to student discipline.
"What I'm fed up about is making sure that if a student is not following the directions or following the rules, that is should be some concrete consequences for that," he said. "That's what I've been hearing from teachers all along—what are we going to do with students who continue to have an issue in our schools? And we're working on that."
Metal detectors were also a topic in Thursday night's meeting along with the goal of hiring additional security guards to operate these systems.
