Tag: HIGH SCHOOLS
Texas teen shot dead by bully two days after defending a younger boy
A Texas teenager who defended a younger boy from getting attacked was allegedly shot dead by the infuriated bully just two days later, according to reports.
Brave Samuel Reynolds, 16, had stepped in to protect a 15-year-old from being assaulted by another boy in Arlington early last week, police told NBC News Dallas Fort-Worth.
“After he broke up the fight, he started having trouble with the suspect,” Arlington Police Lt. Christopher Cook told the station.
On Thursday — just two days after the confrontation — Reynolds was gunned down in a communal area of his apartment complex.
A boy aged between 13 and 15 who lives in the same complex was arrested, and police say he was the same boy Reynolds had earlier confronted, according to NBC.
He is not being identified because of his age, the reports say.
The suspect initially denied involvement in the shooting, but security camera footage showed the killing, cops told NBC.
“He pulls out a handgun from the rear part of his pants he was wearing, points it at the victim and fires one round,” Cook told NBC, saying they found a shell casing from a .40 caliber semi-automatic handgun.
The teen faces a murder charge and has been transported to a juvenile detention center, but it remains unclear whether he will be tried as an adult or child, NBC said.
“This senseless act of gun violence has no place in society and our hometown community,” Arlington police chief Will Johnson said on Twitter.
Calling it “an emotionally tough case” for responding officers, he said: “We will direct our attention to how a young teen suspect accessed a firearm used in the offense.”
Students and teachers gathered at Arlington High School on Friday for a candlelight vigil to remember their former pupil. The suspect was in the same school district but not in the high school, officials said.
“We are heartbroken by this tragic loss of a young life,” principal Shahveer Dhalla said of Reynolds.
“He touched the lives of many of our Arlington students and teachers, and he will be missed. We are keeping our thoughts and prayers with Sam’s family and friends.”
Photo Credit: nypost.com
Mother stopped possible school massacre by turning in her own son
A Washington state mom turned her 17-year-old son in to police upon finding plans in his journal to carry out a school shooting on the anniversary of the Columbine High School massacre.
“It’s devastating. I know I did all I can do and that I made the right choice,” the mother, who only identified herself as Nicole, told CBS News about the decision that led to her son’s Sept. 17 arrest on harassment and bomb threat charges.
The teen, in his journal, said he’d use guns and a variety of explosives to carry out the attack on College Place High School, according to police records obtained by KTEL News.
With the weapons, he’d “blast anyone in sight” and “kill everyone possible,” some of his notebook entries read, the outlet reported.
The teen made a note to “kill self after maximum damage” in the writings.
His mother said he told her that he was just being imaginative. The entries were “just a story,” Nicole said was his response.
But Troy Tomaras, College Place police chief, wasn’t buying it.
“Well, he’s plotting to attack and kill people,” Tomaras told CBS News.
“That’s beyond creative writing. That’s beyond normal.”
Tomaras commended Nicole for speaking up.
“She’s very courageous,” he said. “It’s clearly very emotional for her. She loves her son.”
via: https://nypost.com/2019/10/07/mother-stopped-possible-school-massacre-by-turning-in-her-own-son/
Photo Credit: CBS
Student, teacher charged with sex crime plan to be together once he’s 18
A teacher’s aide at a high school in Washington state had sex with a 17-year-old boy who told deputies the two plan to be together once he turns 18, authorities said.
Wendy Wagoner, a 49-year-old paraprofessional at Graham Kapowsin High School in Pierce County, was charged Thursday with first-degree sexual misconduct with a minor and communication with a minor for immoral purposes after a school employee caught her kissing the teen last month, according to charging documents obtained by the Tacoma News Tribune.
Wagoner, who oversaw the teen’s specialized educated plan, later resigned from her job after the district launched an investigation into the allegation, saying she “did not deserve” the probe, records show.
The teen, meanwhile, told deputies that he and Wagoner planned to be together romantically once he turns 18, according to charging documents.
“She is my everything,” the teen said — although both he and Wagoner denied having a sexual relationship.
The teen even used his cellphone to search for the legal age of consent in Washington, as well as possible penalties for a student-teacher relationship, the newspaper reports.
The age of consent in Washington state is 16, but there are several exceptions, including when sex acts occur between a teacher and a student. The state Supreme Court has ruled that the law applies to students up to the age of 21.
Investigators also found explicit text messages between Wagoner and the teen, including some sent during school hours.
“I knew what I was doing was wrong, and I’m beating myself up really bad right now,” Wagoner told detectives.
Pierce County Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Scott Peters told KIRO that Wagoner told the teen to delete any record of messages they exchanged. Peters said several messages show that they had a sexual relationship, but Wagoner was not charged with raping the teen because he was 17 when the alleged contact occurred.
“For a child rape charge, you need a child under the age of 16,” Peters told the station.
Wagoner also ignored orders by detectives to stay away from the student multiple times, instead opting to use different phones to continue communicating with the teen. A neighbor later reported seeing her hugging the teen last week, deputies said.
Wagoner, of Spanaway, has pleaded not guilty. She was released from Pierce County Jail after posting $50,000 bail, online records show. She could not be reached for comment Friday.
Photo Credit: nypost.com
Video shows Alabama high school students using n-word, anti-Semitic slurs
White Alabama high school students were caught using racist and anti-Semitic slurs in a disturbing video that has sparked an investigation by school officials.
“Without the Holocaust, what would the world be like?” says one boy in the video, which included students from both Hoover and Spain Park high schools, located in a suburb south of Birmingham, AL.com reported.
“We would have white people still,” a girl responds. “All the n—-rs would not be here,” another teen chimes in.
“F–k n—ers, f–k Jews,” another teen says.
“Jews are fine because they’re white,” the girl adds. “We just need the n—-rs gone.”
The teens also referred to racially mixed people as “mixed Oreos” and talked about putting minorities in concentration camps or waiting until they “die off.”
The father of one of the students in the video posted an apology for his daughter’s actions on his business social media page. None of the other students in the video were publicly identified.
“Earlier today a video was circulated on social media that depicted high school kids hanging out and saying some really horrible things. One of the kids you can hear talking is my daughter. We believe, that in the moment she acted completely outside her character and certainly outside the morals and principles that we worked hard to instill in her throughout her lifetime,” Gordon Stewart wrote on the Hoover Toyota Facebook page.
“Our family, Mackenzie included, blatantly reject all forms of racism or bigotry and the sentiments from the video do not accurately reflect her or her true feelings. This experience has proven to be a crucial lesson in her maturity and she directly expresses her heartfelt apologies for her insensitivities,” he wrote.
School officials said they were investigating the incident, despite it occurring off school property.
Hoover Superintendent Kathy Murphy said she spoke with both schools’ principals, confirming the students are enrolled in the school system, AL.com reported.
“We have been made aware of a recently posted video that features Hoover School System students who appear to be engaged in disturbing conduct,” Hoover City Schools said in a statement.
“The activity apparently took place this past weekend at a private residence. Although it was not part of any school function, the conduct in question is in direct conflict with our school system’s values and its mission. Our school administrators are carefully investigating the situation in order to assess our options under the Code of Student Conduct. In the meantime, the Hoover school community may be assured that the Board, together with its administrative and instructional staff, remains steadfastly committed to maintaining and strengthening a school culture that encourages and embraces diversity, inclusiveness, and tolerance,” the statement continued.
Unique Simpson, a black student at Spain Park High School, suggested racist behavior is a problem at the school.
“Honestly, I am so sick and tired of going through this same routine at Spain Park High School,“ Simpson said.
“I’ve been through so many personal experiences,” she said. “This needs to stop.”
13-year-old boy kills himself after school allegedly ignores bullying
An eighth-grade student in Michigan reportedly took his own life after he faced relentless bullying on his school bus.
Michael Martin, 13, died Jan. 25 at Sparrow Hospital two days after he attempted suicide at his Lansing home, the Lansing State Journal reported.
His mother, Joanna Wohlfert, said the teen was teased about his weight and braces on the school bus in the months prior to his death.
He often skipped class at Everett High School to avoid the bullies, which led to his grades slipping, she said.
Wohlfert said the school district and bus company failed to investigate the issue after she repeatedly reached out to them.
“He was going through a dark time and nobody cared,” his mom told the newspaper. “Nobody paid attention to him.”
In emails provided to the newspaper, Wohlfer pleads with faculty and administrators to address the bullying.
“I AM ASKING FOR ANY HELP I CAN GET,” she wrote to a school counselor in a Jan. 8 email.
School officials released a statement Monday confirming authorities are investigating the teen’s suicide.
“The Lansing School District is engaged in a comprehensive and on-going investigation and is working closely with the Lansing Police Department,” the district said.
“It is the policy and practice of the district to not comment or share any details pertaining to the investigation while it is on-going.”
via: https://nypost.com/2019/02/05/13-year-old-boy-kills-himself-after-school-allegedly-ignores-bullying/
Teacher suspended after student wore KKK outfit in class for presentation
A teacher in Missouri has been suspended after a student dressed up as a member of the Ku Klux Klan as part of a history class presentation, district officials said.
A ninth-grader at Poplar Bluff High School dressed as a member of the KKK on Friday as students in an American history class made presentations pertaining to amendments to the US Constitution. The student in question, wearing a white robe and hood, was part of a group assigned to the 15th Amendment — guaranteeing voting rights regardless of race or color, KFVS reports.
District officials have since suspended the teacher as an investigation continues, but they don’t believe the student was acting with intent to offend or discriminate against other students, according to the station.
“There’s no context for this,” Poplar Bluff School District Superintendent Scott Dill told KFVS. “There’s no point at which anyone in our public school system is going to say that this is OK. It is very obvious that this can’t happen in any setting anywhere, and so we will do our best to ensure that we do what we do best, which is education.”
District officials will now take steps to ensure teachers are providing “age-appropriate historical context” on key topics in a responsible manner.
“And we will make sure that our students, our teachers and our community understand the context, understand what is acceptable and what will never be acceptable,” Dill continued.
A letter of apology was sent by the unidentified teacher and read to students early Monday, KFVS reports.
“I made a mistake on Friday during our skit assignment,” the teacher wrote. “I let a student wear an inappropriate costume that was unacceptable and hurt many people’s feelings. As the professional in the room, I should have known better. I am sorry.”
The teacher’s apology continued: “I am so sorry for making this mistake, and I hope that you can forgive me and we can work through this together. I understand that healing and forgiveness take time, and I am absolutely okay with that.”
It wasn’t long before a photograph of the teen dressed as a Klansman soon began circulating on social media Friday. A former student who graduated from the school last year shared a Facebook post depicting the student but she had not been in the classroom at the time, the Springfield News-Leader reports.
“I’ve never ever heard of a history teacher who said it was okay to use a KKK costume for a project,” graduate Brianna Anthony told the newspaper. “Because when people walk into that classroom and see that uniform, that’s automatically a red flag.”
Costumes weren’t a part of history classes during her time at Poplar Bluff, Anthony said.
“We just got in group projects and did, like, reports,” she told the newspaper. “We used costumes in English, going over stories.”
via: https://nypost.com/2018/11/13/teacher-suspended-after-student-wore-kkk-outfit-in-class/
Honor student smiled, laughed as she stabbed pal in love-triangle
A Michigan teen accused of fatally stabbing a classmate was “smiling and laughing” during the attack, according to reports.
Two dozen students watched in horror as Tanaya Lewis, 17, killed Danyna Gibson, 16, with a kitchen knife in a classroom Wednesday at Fitzgerald High School in Warren, Mich., Fox 2 Detroit reported Friday.
“Witnesses said the defendant was smiling and laughing as she was chasing the victim,” Detective Donald Seidel of the Warren Police Department told a judge Friday, WXYZ-TV reported Saturday.
One blow penetrated Danyna’s heart, the station reported.
Prosecutors said Lewis screamed, “I’m going to kill her” as a teacher tried to shove her out of the classroom, according to the station.
Police said there was animosity between the two straight-A students over a boy.
Lewis is being held without bail on a capital murder charge.
She said “yes” to the judge when asked if she understood that she is facing life behind bars without parole.
Danyna’s family is soliciting funds on GoFundMe for her funeral.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
via: https://nypost.com/2018/09/17/honor-student-smiled-laughed-as-she-stabbed-pal-in-love-triangle-cops/
Teacher pleads guilty after having baby with student she adopted
A former teacher in Ohio pleaded guilty to charges stemming from giving birth to her student-turned-foster son’s baby.
Laura Lynn Cross, 37, appeared in court Friday on sexual battery charges in connection with a three-year relationship with the male teenager, the Beacon Journal reported.
Prosecutors alleged that she and the then-16-year-old allegedly became sexually involved in 2013 while he was a freshman at Buchtel High School.
Their relationship reportedly became more complicated in 2015 when the English teacher resigned from the school and asked his mother to be his legal guardian.
Cross allegedly told his mom that she wanted to “mentor” him and was granted partial custody, according to authorities.
Under the court-approved arrangement, Cross and the teen moved in together to her Tallmadge home, officials said.
In June 2015, the boy’s mother filed a police complaint about the alleged affair. No charges, however, were filed until authorities learned that Cross gave birth to the teen’s baby in December 2015.
“First of all, she’s a schoolteacher,” the teen’s father, who didn’t identify himself, told news station WEWS-TV. “To get aroused by a child, basically you have to be a sick individual.”
She was arrested in August 2017 on sexual battery charges after authorities obtained a recording of the teen confessing to his father, according to news site MyTownNeo.
“It was a straight failure from the system,” the teen’s father told WEWS-TV. “From the school and definitely from the police.”
Cross is set to be sentenced May 24.
via: https://nypost.com/2018/03/28/teacher-pleads-guilty-after-having-baby-with-student-she-adopted/
High school soccer coach accused of pimping teen girls
A high school soccer coach who also worked as a rideshare driver was arrested for human trafficking after a 17-year-old girl called police and said she was being sold for sex, authorities in California said.
Elan Daniel Seagraves, 34, of Sacramento, was arrested on Christmas Day after the teen contacted the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department and said she was sexually assaulted and being forced into human trafficking, sheriff officials said in a news release.
The girl told deputies she was hiding in the back yard of a home in south Sacramento at the time and that the man responsible for forcing her into performing sex acts for money was waiting for her in a nearby vehicle, sheriff officials said.
Responding deputies then found Seagraves in a car with another girl who was also 17. Both girls were victims of human trafficking, authorities said.
Investigators learned that Seagraves had worked as the boys’ soccer coach at Kennedy High School in Sacramento, as well as a coach and referee for various local youth soccer leagues. He also worked as a driver for both Uber and Lyft, according to sheriff officials.
Seagraves, who was arrested on charges related to human trafficking and pimping of a minor, remained held on $2 million bail as of Monday, jail records show. He’s scheduled to return to court Thursday, the Sacramento Bee reports.
There’s no indication that the allegations are connected to Seagraves’ role as a soccer coach or driver, but authorities want to talk to anyone who had interactions with him, KTXL reports.
“It’s absolutely 100 percent alarming,” Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department Sgt. Shaun Hampton told the station. “We want to encourage, regardless of the circumstances, regardless of any other things they may be involved in, it’s important to come forward.”
School district officials, meanwhile, said they were disappointed in Seagraves’ “unacceptable” behavior.
“While he passed a background check and had no prior offenses when we hired him to coach soccer in our district, we expect more appropriate behavior from someone we trusted to work with our kids,” according to a statement released by the Sacramento City Unified School District. “Mr. Seagraves will no longer be allowed to work with our kids in any capacity.”
Seagraves also holds a teaching credential and has worked in the past as a substitute teacher and an instructional aide, according to the Sacramento Bee, citing a government watchdog group called Transparent California.
An Uber official also confirmed that Seagraves had worked as a driver and passed a background check in accordance with state law. He has since been removed from the rideshare service, the Sacramento Bee reported.
Seagraves’ Lyft account has also been “immediately disabled,” according to company officials.
“These allegations are incredibly disturbing,” Lyft officials told the newspaper in a statement. “Our concern is with the victims, and we stand ready to assist law enforcement in any way that we can.”
Anyone with information regarding Seagraves is asked to contact Sacramento County sheriff’s officials at (916) 874-8002.
via: https://nypost.com/2018/01/01/high-school-soccer-coach-accused-of-pimping-teen-girls/
Teacher accused of sleeping with student who tried kill himself indicted on sex charges
A married teacher in Maine accused of sleeping with a student was indicted Tuesday on a number of sexual assault charges.
Jill Lamontagne, 29, turned herself into authorities after she was indicted by a York County Grand Jury on six counts of gross sexual assault, two counts of unlawful sexual contact and six counts of abuse of a minor, the Portland Press Herald reported.
“The indictment was the culmination of an investigation into a relationship Lamontagne allegedly had with a juvenile, male student while she was a teacher at the school,” Kennebunk Deputy Chief of Police Michael Nugent said Wednesday, according to Seacoast Online.
Lamontagne allegedly had a relationship with the male student, 17, who was in her health class at Kennebunk High School at the time of sexual contact.
An abuse order filed by the student’s mother in Biddeford District Court states the relationship between the teacher and boy was revealed when he was hospitalized following a suspected suicide attempt.
The student ingested a concoction of ibuprofen, Tylenol, cold medicine and blood thinner Warfarin, according to the Press Herald.
The boy confessed to the relationship to his aunt a day after his hospitalization. The student and his teacher had sexual contact “numerous times, in the classroom, at her house, in her car,” the student’s mother wrote. The student said Lamontagne performed oral sex on him, adding that “other stuff happened.”
The student allegedly told his mother and a nurse at the hospital that he loved his teacher and took the mixture of medicines to attempt suicide, Seacoast reported.
Lamontagne told the student she hadn’t had a sexual relationship with anyone for two years. Court records reportedly indicate she is married and has children.
The teacher was placed on administrative leave June 12 when the boy’s family notified the school of the sexual contact. Lamontagne then filed for family medical leave, and was still on leave when she submitted her resignation in September.
Lamontagne was booked on the charges and released on $1,000 bail. She’s expected to appear in court Dec. 22.