NEWPORT NEWS, Va. — Richneck Elementary School, where police say a 6-year-old boy shot his teacher, reopened Monday with stepped-up security and a new administrator, as parents and students expressed optimism about a return to the classroom.
The school opened its doors more than three weeks after the Jan. 6 shooting.
Kevin Torres, 8, was excited to be back in his third-grade class Monday.
“Great,” Torres said. “We played a lot of games. We had so much fun. We got toys.”
Police have said the boy brought a 9 mm handgun to school and intentionally shot his teacher, Abby Zwerner, as she was teaching her first-grade class. The 25-year-old teacher was hospitalized for nearly two weeks but is now recovering at home.
The school board chair, Lisa Surles-Law, said roses were handed out to the students, and all parents were allowed to walk their kids into their classrooms. Therapy dogs were at the school and were being made available to all first-grade students, she said.
Zwerner’s first-grade classroom, where the shooting took place, remained closed. Surles-Law said Zwerner’s students will be taught in another classroom that has been painted and made to look welcoming.
“I walked the building a little while ago, and (the teachers) are very excited to welcome their students back,” she said.
The shooting sent shock waves through Newport News, a city of about 185,000 that is known for its shipbuilding industry. It has also raised questions about school security and how a child so young could gain access to a gun and shoot his teacher.
Days after the shooting, the school board announced that walk-through metal detectors would be placed in every school in the district.
At Richneck, two metal detection systems have been installed and two security officers have been assigned to the school, said Michelle Price, a spokesperson for the school district.
“It did not look intrusive to me at all,” said Newport News Police Chief Steve Drew. “The kids walked through and some of them looked at the lights but I didn’t see the kids affected by that. I saw the kids walking in, smiling, waving to their friends, talking to some officers, talking to faculty and staff.”
Before the shooting, one security officer was assigned to Richneck and another elementary school. The officer was not at Richneck at the time of the shooting.
The security officers will also have a hand-held metal detector wand, Price said. New doors have been installed in classroom areas that didn't have any, while other doors have been repaired or replaced, she added.
Suzanne Turner’s son Cyrus, who’s in kindergarten at Richneck, didn’t seem to mind the detectors.
“He just sees the presence of the police and all the camera people and he’s like, I don’t like this. That’s what overwhelms him,” Turner said. “When I mentioned there would be police presence, all he said was, ‘I just want to go back to when the police weren’t at our school.”
Many families support the new safety measures, including the metal detectors.
“I wish they were here sooner,” said Turner. “I think they should have gone in all schools a long time ago.”
Eve Parham was dropping off her fourth-grade granddaughter Monday morning. She said she’s happy about the metal detectors, adding it’s unfortunate Zwerner was shot for this to happen.
“I applaud her and I’m grateful she’s ok and that it caused this reaction,” Parham said. “I think it’ll help all the schools in City of Newport News.”
Surles-Law said students would be given clear backpacks on Monday.
“We got this backpack; it’s clear…so they see what you have in your backpack,” 8-year-old Kevin Torres said.
Turner said she’s now preparing to have that difficult conversation with her son.
“I’m interested to see how his day was,” she said. “He was excited to go back and see his friend. Now I’m just anxiously like, did you have just a normal day? Please, did you have a normal day?”
Simple, open-ended questions are what licensed professional counselor Kurt Hooks said parents should be asking their child.
“Be prepared to listen more than you talk,” said Hooks, Virginia Beach Psychiatric Center’s CEO. “I think sometimes we don’t give children enough credit for the capability to understand and identify some of their own feelings and to express them.”
Hooks also said pay attention to your child’s behavior – if they’re sad, withdrawn or not talking much. Additionally, he said it’s critical for parents to be aware of their own stress and anxiety because a child can pick up on those cues and that might amplify their own feelings.
Richneck school administrators do have mental health therapists available.
News 3 caught with kindergarten student Cyrus at the end of the school day to check in.
“How are you feeling right now?” Reporter Antoinette DelBel asked.
“Amazed,” he said.
“About what?” asked DelBel.
Cyrus said, “Because I got a racoon.”
The principal and assistant principal both left their jobs after the shooting, and a new administrator has been appointed to lead the school as part of a personnel shake-up.
Karen Lynch, who has worked as a principal in Newport News for 17 years, said in a letter to Richneck families last week that she is now working “on special assignment” at Richneck. Lynch said emotional support services that have been provided to students, families and staff by support specialists, social workers and licensed therapists will continue after the school reopens.
Superintendent George Parker, who was sharply criticized by parents and teachers after the shooting, was fired by the school board last week. Parker has said that at least one school administrator received a tip that the boy may have brought a weapon to school. He said the boy's backpack was searched, but no weapon was found.
Zwerner's lawyer, Diane Toscano, said that on the day of the shooting, concerned staff at Richneck warned administrators three times that the boy had a gun and was threatening other students, but the administration didn’t call police, remove the boy from class or lock down the school.
Police said the handgun was legally purchased by the boy's mother.
In a statement released through their attorney, the boy's family said the gun was “secured."Attorney James Ellenson told The Associated Press that his understanding is that the gun was in the mother's closet on a shelf well over 6 feet (1.8 meters) high and had a trigger lock that required a key.
