Posted on 10/01/2006 2:17:32 PM PDT by Mini-14
LACEY - A 33-year-old teacher at Nisqually Middle School is on administrative leave after school officials discovered she brought a .38 Special handgun - along with bullets - on school grounds Thursday, according to the Thurston County Sheriff's Office.
Teacher Mary Catherine Roe, who lives in Shelton, told deputies she was fearful of her husband and that he used a gun while assaulting her, according to a sheriff's report. Roe also has a domestic violence protection order against her husband, according to Mason County records.
No decision was made Monday about whether Roe will face criminal charges, Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Dave Ryan said.
Roe is under investigation for the charge of unlawfully carrying a firearm, which was in her purse, on school grounds. The law says no one except law enforcement officers can bring a firearm onto school grounds. The charge is a gross misdemeanor, punishable by up to one year in jail and a $5,000 fine.
Nisqually parents received a letter from the school Friday explaining that a staff member brought a weapon to school and was placed on leave. The letter reminded parents that it is against state law to bring any firearm to a school campus. The letter did not name the staff member.
Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources Brian Wharton for North Thurston Public Schools declined to confirm or deny who was on leave. No charges have been filed and no district disciplinary action has been taken, he said. Students did not see the weapon, Wharton said.
Roe is a language arts teacher, according to the school's Web site.
Wharton said the district is cooperating with the sheriff's office. District officials will consider the results of the criminal investigation before they decide on any disciplinary action.
He said the district policies don't specifically address what to do if staff members bring weapons to school, though it references the state law forbidding firearms on campuses.
"We expect our staff members to follow the law," he said.
School officials learned about the gun after a co-worker asked Roe how she is protecting herself against her husband, the police report states, and she told him that she had a gun in her purse, according to the sheriff's department.
The co-worker told Nisqually Principal Karen Owen, the report states, and school officials called deputies.
Roe told deputies "that she was aware that she should not bring the gun to school. She thought that if she was discovered that she would simply be asked to put it in her vehicle. Ms. Roe said that she has a concealed weapons permit and is proficient at shooting because of her military training."
Roe was visibly upset and crying when police came to the school Thursday to investigate, the report states.
Roe told deputies that her father had purchased the handgun for her after her husband had assaulted her Aug. 5, "and she has carried it with her ever since," the report states. Roe's husband, Shawn Roe, is awaiting trial on pending charges of unlawful imprisonment and malicious mischief, according to Mason County records.
Her claim that she has a concealed weapons permit could not be confirmed. An official at the state Department of Licensing said Monday that the names of individuals who carry concealed weapons permits is confidential and is not open to the public under state law.
The Thurston County Sheriff's report does not state whether Roe's handgun was loaded, but states that the gun, along with five bullets, were confiscated.
Roe has filed a divorce petition, which is pending, against her husband, according to court records.
The district has the discretion whether to report the incident to the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, which is in charge of teacher licensing, state superintendent spokeswoman Kim Schmanke said. It is not one of the offenses that set off an automatic investigation by the state, she said.
Roe could not be reached for comment Monday at a phone number for her residence in Shelton.
After a concerned parent at Monday's school board meeting questioned the lack of a weapons policy for employees, school board President Judy Wilson responded that she would be interested in exploring a policy for employees who bring weapons to campus.
"I personally believe that we need to have one. We have one about drugs and alcohol," she told the parent and the school board.
Yeah, before I read the article, I wondered how the school found out she had a gun..then when I saw she opened her big yap to tell someone she had a gun, I kinda thought she was too stupid to have one.
I guess we're only law and order conservatives when we happen to like the law in question, eh? When we don't like the law, those who seek to adhere to it are tattle-tales. Pathetic excuse for conservatism.
Well, you know how women are. They don't tell the little white lies to their girlfriends or co-workers that men do. (Trust me, I work with a bunch of women at both of my jobs and if it isn't listening to how hot the guy from "Grey's Anatomy" is, it's listening to how little Bobby was being sassy for Grandma). The woman probably has worked with the co-worker for some time and felt that she could be trusted.
On what grounds? The law is simple: Only law enforcement can carry weapons on school grounds. It's cut and dried, black and white. While one may be sympathetic to the teacher, the fact that she broke the law is undeniable and not debateable.
Really??? Bullets too???
You know that this dumbass reporter asked ,"did she have bullets too?"
Wrong. There's the law, and then there's good-old fashioned common sense that's been missing since the 60s.
The conservative route, in this context, would be the co-worker being happy that the woman is protecting herself and not saying anything else that would endanger the woman.
I sent this information over to Joe Waldron who operates a gun rights group in Washington and hope that he will prod a legislator to introduce legislation to fix the law. I suspect that Mary will not be prosecuted as the anti-gun blissninnies worry that the law might not hold up under the Washington state constitution. No federal court will throw the law out, but we do have a pretty good state constitution in Washington.
Teachers generally discourage children from tattling. This one should take that advice too.
Roe .....
Please tell me she wasn't married to Wade ?
My apologies, I thought the co-worker was a woman too.
Luckily, only a few nutbars actually believe in jury nullification. If it were otherwise, the immediate breakdown of our legal system via the ensuing epidemic of O.J. type verdicts would send us into anarchy over night. No system of justice can work when any individual believe he/she is the supreme arbiter of the law.
Sorry, I feel for this woman, but she broke a plainly written law. That, I cannot overlook just because. I also carry a gun, and I'm downright pedantic about obeying state and local laws. I don't carry where it's posted, I don't carry into drinking establishments, I don't carry into hospitals or schools, etc etc.
Roe was visibly upset and crying when police came to the school Thursday to investigate,
She had military training and she started crying when the police showed up?
Regardless, I think it is wise for teachers with CCW permits to carry on campus.
Ditto that. Big time.
Sorry, that would be criminal in and of itself. The conservative route IS NOT BECOMING AN ACCESSORY AFTER THE FACT no matter how badly you want to call that conservatism. It's criminal, plainly criminal. How we've fallen that so-called-conservatives now openly call for criminal conspiracies in open and public forums.
Holds five rounds .357/.38 spl. 
Most parents would WANT the teachers to be armed!
Oh...wait, the no-guns-at-schools-excepting-of-course-professional-gubmint-types laws were passed because of children with guns.
At least the law works, except when it doesn't and some criminal psycho shows up and starts killing at will and no one, because they're law abiding, has a gun to stop the murdering so the evildoers keep doing what they do until the police show up and by then it's usually too late.
Liberals feel good and that's all that matters.
You're going off on an irrelevant tangent. It doesn't matter what I think. I think it would be safe to allow me to carry a gun into the hospital when I drop by to see my wife. However, the law says otherwise so I disarm before I enter the building. What I think is irrelevant and the law is clear.
Laws were made to be broken and a jury to decide if the law is righteous
Who the hell are you quoting her? John Dillenger? What's the whole quote? "Laws are made to be broken and banks are made to be robbed?? Please, I can't believe a so-called-conservative is actually posting such liberal nonsense as "laws are made to be broken"
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