Weeks after a Virginia elementary school teacher was shot by a six-year-old student after administrators dismissed reports that he brought a handgun to school, a Texas teacher has been suspended after taking to social media to complain about a similar complaint made about one of his students he feels his administration didn’t properly and safely address, the Shreveport Times reports.
Patrick Durbin, a sixth-grade social studies and three-sport coach in Waskom Independent School District, was told by two other students on January 18th at 2:30 p.m. local time that a sixth-grade student had threatened to shoot him. He informed his school principal who removed the student from class and brought him to the school office. Following school, Durbin went to the high school campus for basketball team training, where he found the student practicing with a sports team despite making the threat earlier in the day; he had not been informed that the student would continue his normal day after threatening to shoot a teacher.
Durbin asked another coach to remove the student while he stayed in the coaches’ office, and he called a friend on the Waskom Police force, who informed him the school never contacted the police about the threat of violence.
Desperate to bring attention to the situation, Durbin took to TikTok, on which Durbin labels himself as a “conservative,” to post a video explaining his fear and situation, saying, the student told others, “Don’t come to school today ’cause I’m gonna shoot this person.”
“Y’all wonder why teachers are getting out and quitting, it’s bad administration and people covering up for kids doing things to endanger other people’s lives.” As of Monday morning, the video has more than 500 likes and 250 shares.
After Durbin posted the video, parents and students started contacting Durbin and the school inquiring about the incident. Durbin took the following day off work out of concern for his safety, but received a call from the district superintendent calling him to a meeting where he was suspended. The superintendent informed him that he was being suspended for spreading false information.
In a January 20th Facebook post, the school district claims it was in communication with the local police department and that the incident was thoroughly investigated, though it fails to explain how the principal received the threat, thoroughly investigated the student, and released the student to participate in sports practice hours after the threat.
“After a thorough investigation based upon District protocol, it was determined that at no time were students or staff in imminent danger,” the post reads. “Waskom ISD has collaborated with the police department since Wednesday once we were made aware of the situation and will continue to share information and all items requested by the City of Waskom Police Department. School disciplinary measures have been assigned.”