Fired by the school, a first-grade teacher who was shot and injured by her six-year-old student.
Abby Zwerner, 26, reported that she received an email last month from Newport News Public Schools, notifying her of the termination of her contract.
According to Zwerner’s attorneys, the termination was linked to her $40 million lawsuit against NNPS and some of its administrators. However, the school claimed the termination was merely a procedural message since the teacher had informed them of her decision not to return.
The email, dated May 22, stated: ‘NNPS has processed a separation of employment for you effective the close of business 06/12/2023.’
Jeffrey Breit, an attorney for Zwerner, characterized the one-page HR email as a termination.
‘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,’ he stated in an interview with WAVY, a local news station.
According to Michelle Price, spokesman for NNPS, Zwerner had informed the school system in March about her decision not to return to teaching.
Price stated: ‘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, 2022.
‘Ms. Zwerner was an employee of Newport News Public Schools until June 12, 2023, the last day of her contract.’
Breit expressed that his client was utterly shocked by the email.
‘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 August 1 to leave or re-sign, (but) they fire her two months early. The only thing I can think, they were trying to put pressure on her because we filed suit.
‘It’s outrageous, as outrageous as I’ve ever seen,’ he articulated. Breit claimed Zwerner has not been compensated since February.
He alleged that the school attempted to coerce her into accepting workers’ comp, and when she refused, they stopped her pay.
In January of this year, Zwerner sustained serious injuries after her six-year-old student shot her in her classroom at Richneck Elementary School in Newport News, Virginia. Ultimately, the police confirmed that the child used his mother, Deja Taylor’s gun.
Earlier this week, Taylor faced federal charges related to the incident and pleaded guilty to allegations of being an unlawful user of a controlled substance in possession of a firearm, and making a false statement during the purchase of a firearm.
Zwerner brought a $40 million lawsuit against the Newport News School Board, former Superintendent Dr. George Parker, former Richneck Principal Briana Foster-Newton, and former Richneck Assistant Principal Dr. Ebony Parker.
Parker’s legal representatives have moved to dismiss the lawsuit, arguing that Zwerner’s injuries, sustained during her job, are covered by the Workers’ Compensation Act.
Subsequent to the shooting, several Richneck employees resigned from their positions at NNPS, including Parker, but this is the first notice regarding Zwerner’s employment status with the school.
Two days before the shooting incident, the same boy who later shot Zwerner had destroyed her phone and verbally abused her.
The child, whose identity was kept confidential, had been removed from the school a year earlier after attempting to strangle a different teacher and was required to be supervised by a parent daily.
On January 6, he was dropped off at the school by his mother. He disclosed to other children that morning about having a firearm in his backpack, and the school’s staff was informed as well.
Instead of removing him from any classes, the school’s administrators permitted him to remain around other children and teachers.
The school checked his backpack for a weapon, but he had already concealed it in his sweatshirt at that point, according to Zwerner’s lawsuit.
The lawsuit additionally contends that the vice principal prohibited any teachers from searching the boy.
At 1.59pm, he retrieved the gun from his sweater and shot Zwerner in the chest. The bullet initially struck one of her hands, which she claims saved her life.
She is currently suing the school for failing to take appropriate measures to protect her and others from the child.
The 20-page lawsuit includes a detailed account of the boy’s previous troubling behavior.
It also alleges that despite claiming immediately after the shooting that he had an ‘acute disability,’ his parents did not allow him to attend classes with other special needs kids.
‘John Doe had been removed from school during the 2021-2022 school year when he was in kindergarten after he strangled and choked a teacher.
‘Also during the 2021-2022 school year, a female child had fallen on the playground and John Doe came up to her, pulled her dress up and began to touch the child inappropriately until reprimanded by a teacher,’ the lawsuit states.
Between 11.15am and 11.30am on the day of the shooting, Zwerner reported to Assistant Principal Dr. Ebony Parker that the child seemed to be in a ‘violent mood’ and had threatened to beat up another child.
According to the suit, the vice principal took no action.
At 11.45am, two students informed another teacher that the boy had a gun in his backpack.
That teacher approached him and asked him about the weapon, however, he lied and refused to let her check his bag.
He was observed removing something from the bag and placing it in his sweatshirt pocket.
Upon reporting this to the same assistant principal, it was stated that his pockets were too small to contain a handgun.
At approximately 1.10pm, despite concerns that the boy was carrying a gun, teachers asked for permission to search him, but the same assistant principal ‘forbade’ them from doing so.
Less than an hour later, he brandished the gun from his sweatshirt and shot Zwerner in front of other terrified students.
