Your editorial on the Mashpee Public Schools’ handling of a threat by a fifth grade student misses the point.
You said it yourselves: “What do we pay our principals and administrators for if not to assess each incident and take appropriate action?”
The key word here is “appropriate”.
Yes, the school should have alerted the police, who have the authority and responsibility to investigate whether or not this child has access to weapons.
Yes, the school should have removed the student from the premises and obtained a psychiatric evaluation – SOP in other districts – before allowing the child back in class.
Yes, the school should have investigated whether this little boy was the victim of bullying.
None of the above was done, not even notification to parents until several days after the incident.
As for the teacher: I don’t know her personally, but would be very surprised if this public school veteran has refused to return to her classroom based on this incident alone.
What I do know is that this employee’s unwillingness to return to the workplace is costing the taxpayers $75-80/day in stipends for a substitute.
When you consider how much work it takes for the Quashnet School PTO to raise $400+, that’s a lot of bake sales to compensate for the administration’s egregious mismanagement.
By the way, it would be helpful in the future for your editorials to give all parties equal time, and include quotes from everyone involved, not just the school superintendent.
After firing 6-7 teachers, hiring of at least 2 unqualified administrators with high 5-figure salaries and the recent DOE criticism of the Mashpee schools, the superintendent has very little credibility with many of us.