Posted on 06/14/2023 6:20:02 AM PDT by TigerClaws
NEWPORT NEWS, Va. (WAVY) — First-grade teacher Abby Zwerner who was shot by her 6-year-old student in January no longer works for Newport News Public Schools.
WAVY obtained a copy of an email sent to Zwerner on May 22 that states, “NNPS has processed a separation of employment for you effective the close of business 06/12/2023.”
The one-page email from the Human Resources Department explains exiting information, per standard NNPS policy.
Zwerner’s attorney Jeffrey Breit on Tuesday called this a firing.
“I don’t think you can read this any other way than you’ve been fired. And that’s what she thinks. She doesn’t understand it; there’s no other communication,” Breit said told WAVY.
According to NNPS spokesperson Michelle Price, Zwerner notified the school system in March that she would not be returning. Price provided this statement to WAVY:
The email that Ms. Zwerner received from the Human Resources Department is a confirmation of her separation of service from Newport News Public Schools. Every employee who is separating from the school division receives a similar communication. Ms. Zwerner notified the Human Resources Department that she was resigning from her position as a teacher for NNPS on March 13, 2023.
Ms. Zwerner was an employee of Newport News Public Schools until June 12, 2023, the last day of her contract.
But Breit said when the email arrived, Zwerner couldn’t believe it.
“To say we were shocked is an understatement; we have litigation. They haven’t paid her in a couple of months. They are trying to squeeze her. She has to Aug. 1 to leave or re-sign, (but) they fired her two months early. The only thing I can think, they were trying to put pressure on her because we filed suit,” said Breit. “It’s outrageous, as outrageous as I’ve ever seen.”
According to Breit, Zwerner has not been paid since February. He said they tried to make her take workers’ comp, but when she wouldn’t take it, they just stopped paying her.
Allegedly warned about student with gun, Richneck admin asks judge to dismiss lawsuit
Zwerner, 25 at the time of the shooting, was in her classroom at Richneck Elementary School the afternoon of Jan. 6 when her student shot her. She was seriously injured.
Police confirmed the gun used by the 6-year-old belonged to his mother, Deja Taylor.
On the same day as Zwerner’s last day of official employment with NNPS, Taylor was in court to face federal charges tied to this case. She pleaded guilty to both charges, unlawful user of a controlled substance in possession of a firearm and making a false statement during the purchase of a firearm.
Zwerner has filed a $40 million lawsuit against the Newport News School Board, former Superintendent Dr. Gregory Parker, former Richneck Principal Briana Foster-Newton, and former Richneck Assistant Principal Dr. Ebony Parker. Attorneys representing Parker are asking a judge to dismiss the suit. Their argument is that Zwerner was shot while doing her job, so her injuries are covered by the Workers’ Compensation Act.
Several Richneck employees have resigned from NNPS since the shooting, including Parker.
Wow so low.
Generally school administrators are not good people, they are self serving. School boards vary.
It needs to be completely dismantled and rebuilt, community by community. No federal involvement. No sports. And nothing but core classes. 3 Rs kind of stuff.
It won't hurt anything. America's kids are already the most ignorant on the planet.
Any company I ever worked for would have fired me if company officials believed I might draw them into any event where they could not control the narrative. It doesn’t matter what the event might be. They just don’t want to be involved in anything that could bring a spotlight onto them. Think of how cockroaches run when you turn on the kitchen lights. It’s not that they’ve even done anything bad or controversial. It’s that people might get the idea they did something bad. Of course, the other side of their actions are The Streisand Effect*. Had they just let things ride and continued on the present path, whatever that was, they would have raised much less publicity.
* The Streisand effect is a phenomenon in which an attempt to censor, hide, or otherwise draw attention away from something only serves to attract more attention to it12. The name derives from American singer and actress Barbra Streisand’s lawsuit against a photographer in 2003, which drew attention to the photo she was suing to have taken off the Internet1.
No federal involvement.
************
I don’t disagree. But will never happen as we fund
the federal government and have too much diversity.
“Ms. Zwerner notified the Human Resources Department that she was resigning from her position as a teacher for NNPS on March 13, 2023.”
“I don’t think you can read this any other way than you’ve been fired.”
So she resigned, they processed her “separation of employment” and now she claims she was fired.
They decided she was racist because she must have done something evil to piss-off the 6 yr. old.......
Hope she has a good lawyer and wins a big judgement.
Absolute scum.
So, she sues the school district and wins. The tax payers pay for the damages caused by the officials. See how THEY separate themselves from their behavior?!!!
Move along, nothing to see here.
As a general statement the school systems in this country are totally F’up.
Doesn’t the school, at some point, have to give her a reason for her “separation”? Hope the news media pursues this story in more depth.
Doesn’t the school, at some point, have to give her a reason for her “separation”? Hope the news media pursues this story in more depth.
Ms. Zwerner notified the Human Resources Department that she was resigning from her position as a teacher for NNPS on March 13, 2023.
How can the school system be accused of firing her, when she resigned with an effective date more than 2 months, almost 3 moths, prior to the stated separation date?
The mother and child are not white, so this makes perfect sense.
Ok. She told them she would not be returning and yet, her lawyer says She has to Aug. 1 to leave or re-sign, (but) they fired her two months early.
Which is it?
“ She pleaded guilty to both charges, unlawful user of a controlled substance in possession of a firearm and making a false statement during the purchase of a firearm.”
Is she related to Hunter Biden?
> Doesn’t the school, at some point, have to give her a reason for her “separation”? <
That usually depends on whether or not the teacher has tenure. It depends on the state, but usually a teacher has to work two full years before being tenured.
No tenure: The teacher can be fired the flimsiest of reasons. Or for no reason.
Tenure: Due process kicks in. The district has to follow a set of rules to fire a teacher.
It is worth noting that a school teacher’s tenure is NOT the same as a college professor’s tenure. The professor has much more protection. A tenured teacher can be fired as long as due process is followed. It’s not that tough.
It is very difficult to fire a tenured college professor.
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