16-year-old sneaks handgun and ammo into Florida high school I taught at last year; poses with it in bathroom
March 31, 2023
There's been an avalanche of ominous news from the governor and Florida legislature, which I have been writing about here and there on social media, but haven't had time to write something of substance on here in over a month.
But, something that hit close to home for me was that yesterday (March 30, 2023), a 16-year-old student was arrested at the Daytona Beach alternative high school I taught World History, U.S. History, Government, and Economics at last school year.
As you may recall, my last day was September 14, 2022, at the school’s other campus in Deltona (having worked at the Daytona Beach campus in January–June 2022), as it was too much when we have a newborn baby (now an infant), and are dealing with our toddler Jonah's disability arising from cerebellar atrophy.
The Daytona Beach News-Journal reports:
"The girl was arrested Thursday and charged with possession of a firearm on school grounds and carrying a concealed firearm, both felonies, according to the Daytona Beach Police Department. Besides the gun, she also had two loaded magazines."
"Other students saw the girl making videos and taking photos of herself with the gun, according to a report."
"When police questioned the student about the gun, she said she hid the weapon in the bushes in a corner of the back parking lot, according to the report."
"During the search, the police officer noticed a pink handle of a firearm in the girl’s waistband, the report stated."
"Police took the gun, an SCCY 9 mm, and two loaded magazines from the girl, the report stated."
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Although I am no longer employed there and have no knowledge of the incident beyond reading the news, it is always scary when something hits this close to home. It feels more and more that it is not a question of IF you will encounter gun violence as a teacher or parent of school-aged children, but WHEN. It's disgusting that this was the same day that the Florida legislature passed a bill to allow concealed carry of handguns with no training or permitting, which Governor DeSantis will be signing into law quite soon. And, this was just a few days after a mass murder at an elementary school in Nashville, TN.
The new Florida permitless concealed carry legislation applies to ages 21 and older, but children have no problem stealing guns from cars or family, as they are quite easy to find. In fact, unoccupied pickup trucks with NRA stickers are easy targets that frequently have guns under the seat or in the glove box. At the same time, Republicans in the Florida legislature continue to ban guns in the legislative chambers, and Governor DeSantis seeks to ban guns at speaking engagements, for his personal safety. The hypocrisy is galling.
The high school this happened at is the district's alternative high school. It has a high population of students who did not succeed at larger high schools due to absenteeism, financial difficulties, turmoil at home, behavior, or other reasons. I helped many students engage with the Grades 10–12 social studies curriculum in a way that they hadn't before, and I was privileged to see so many of them graduate. In the school year I was there, the school’s pass rate for the 11th grade U.S. History state-mandated end-of-course exam increased by 56% (as compared with the 2020–2021 pass rate*), in part because I printed practice tests for many students and sat with them going through it question-by-question. I continue to run into former students, thus far, in employment at a grocery store, a coffee shop, and a convention center. It's always wonderful to see them succeeding in school and at work.
At the same time, it's a tough school and you have to have a thick skin for students cussing you out and other misbehavior. But, I never thought a student with a loaded gun would make it into school. We seemed much safer than other schools, with a full-time Daytona Beach police officer and required metal detection and bag searches for all students. Going out back to play basketball during lunch was the high point of many students' day (and some staff members, too), but I guess that will have to be taken away or tightly supervised, too, going forward. I talked with our regularly assigned police officer quite often, and he even explained how he would handle taking down a school shooter expeditiously. This was before the Uvalde massacre, but it was top of mind for so many of us even then.
I have omitted the name of the school here just so it doesn't pop up on web searches, but you can see it in the first link in today's Notes section. My heart goes out to everyone at the school, and all of my fellow educators and parents who face the threat of senseless mass murders with firearms each and every day in spaces that should be sanctuaries of learning—not places of anxiety and dread. May God help us all.
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Notes:
https://www.cnn.com/2023/03/31/politics/florida-legislature-concealed-carry-gun-permit/index.html
* Our 11th grade U.S. History EOC exam pass rate increased from 9% to 14%, which was a 56% increase. Getting students to engage with the material rather than randomly picking choices to all questions was a big part of this improvement.