At DuPont Tyler Middle School, the assistant principal’s most urgent concern was a 12-year-old boy. James, a seventh grader with a small voice and mop of brown hair, had posted a concerning screenshot on Instagram that morning, Jan. 23. He was arrested at school hours later and charged with making a threat of mass violence.
The assistant principal had to complete a detailed investigation called a threat assessment, as required by Tennessee law. First, she and other school employees had to figure out whether James’ threat was valid. Then, they had to determine what actions to take to help a potentially troubled child and protect other students.
Threat assessments are not public, but the district gave ProPublica a copy of James’ with his father’s permission. School officials did not carry out the threat assessment properly, according to experts who reviewed it at ProPublica’s request. Instead, the school expelled James without investigating further and skipped crucial steps that would help him or protect others. (We are using the child’s middle name to protect his privacy.)
So this kid gets expelled for posting a screenshot of a conversation others had.
But many conservatives adamantly block gun controls of any kind, and they aren’t interested in increasing/improving mental health services.
Tennessee, and large parts of the rest of the country, are totally fucked in the head when it comes to gun violence in schools.
Talk of gun control is mostly off the table for them. A deal breaker even. They immediately stop listening. It’s simply wrap your kid in Kevlar and active shooter drills. Anything but the gun, well, other than suggesting that more people, like teachers, carry them. Insane.
And the wildest thing is the reason it’s off the table for them: Propaganda.
Most people treat the whole “they’re coming to take our guns!” thing as a joke. Those people 100% think any form of gun control involves the government kicking down doors and taking all the guns. They LITERALLY think it involves full confisaction of any gun and just shut down all forms of logic if you try to explain. Because they’re actually brainwashed by Fox and the NRA.
James’ alleged threat was a screenshot of a text exchange. One person said they would “shoot up” a Nashville school and asked if the other would attack a different school. “Yea,” the other person replied. “I got some other people for other schools.” The FBI flagged the post for school officials and police. James told school officials that he reposted the screenshot from the Instagram page of a Spanish-language news site.
And he said it was to warn others (not to make a threat.)
A Tennessee school district fails to follow their own review procedures and expels a student who likely did not need to be expelled.
As they say in the South: “Thank god for Mississippi.”
Ways to make kids not want to report a threat…
