Oxford High School is liable as all get out

[Effete Snob]

I don't know how the schools are organized in Michigan, but based on what the prosecutor has said, the school system had better be in touch with their insurer, because they are going to be an ATM before long.

If the school is run by the county, then that prosecutor needs to be replaced by the county, because she is digging quite a grave for the school administration.

[Tetrachloride]

1. I presume that the connotations of the two paragraphs are the same:

The prosecutor is going after the school . (The first section of the second paragraph in its current wording appears to be irony / sarcasm or other word play.)

[Effete Snob]

6. I'm curious how school districts in Michigan are organized

If, and this is just an if, since I genuinely don't know, the schools are run by the counties, then she's not doing her client any favors.

[Tetrachloride]

8. In my brief time in Michigan, even in the rural north,

the county was not the school employers.

[Effete Snob]

10. Thank you

[Srkdqltr]

2. Prosecute all of them.

[BlackSkimmer]

3. I was impressed by her. She said she was covering for nobody.

In these days, that’s damn impressive.

[Kingofalldems]

4. How about the NRA?

[Effete Snob]

5. I'm not a fan of them

[maxsolomon]

18. How do you figure?

Maybe a victim's family might try that in a Civil suit, but not the criminal prosecution.

[BeyondGeography]

7. You're right, but meantime the gungeoneer profiteers get off scot free

The first reaction of school districts everywhere will be metal detectors. While politicians offer tots and pears the real-world has to cope with the effects of an over-armed society. Normalization results. We’re already hearing how all those lockdown drills paid off. Next step will be to prevent weapons from getting into the building in the first place. Gun “security” types will make a fortune and a fresh round of scrutiny and outrage will spur more gun sales.

We stink.

[Effete Snob]

9. Their liability has nothing to do with having metal detectors

This kid was walking around for two days with a neon sign flashing "mass shooter" over his head. Teachers knew it, administrators knew it, and they called to parents in to tell them to get the kid into counseling. The parents said "no" and left, and so they returned the kid, and his backpack, to the classroom.

They had enough for a 72 hour hold on this kid and, unlike the parents, they are supposed to have some sort of professional expertise in assessing the behavior of adolescents.

What the school staff did here was plain nuts.

[BeyondGeography]

12. I'm talking about what happens after they get taken to the cleaners

[Effete Snob]

17. They'll do what their insurers recommend, I suppose

One might think that insurers are savvy to the idea that causing bunch-ups at entrances due to security processing presents a better target for a shooter seeking to inflict maximum casualties. But, I am not a statistical analyst.

[Klaralven]

11. School counselors are social worker types who believe that people are good

Not law enforcement types who believe that people are evil.

[Effete Snob]

13. They identified the kid as a risk and told the parents he needed attention

...and then helpfully returned him to class with his backpack.

[global1]

15. Why Wasn't The Backpack Inspected And Searched?.....

Now I can see where the school administrators couldn't do the inspection - perhaps an infringement of rights issue. No search warrant - maybe.

On the other hand - this was a backpack being brought into the school and the school should have some say in what is brought into its facility. I remember when their were schools requiring that backpacks be see-thru plastic. Wasn't that because of guns?

At the least - the school should have requested the parents - when they were called to the school to discuss the note found by the teacher - to inspect and search the backpack. The backpack should have been inspected in the presence of the school administrators.

Surely as parents - they had the right to do that - because it was their kid that was in question here. I don't think it is a violation of their kids right. They didn't need a search warrant. As parents they are supposed to be responsible for their kid.

[Effete Snob]

16. Here's a thread of the prosecutor's statement

Honestly, while I was listening to this, part of my subconscious brain was trying to get me to laugh at a seeming dark parody of "before the school shooting happened":

Link to tweet

[Reader Rabbit]

14. If it's like most other school districts...

...there were probably teachers raising concerns and sounding alarms for a long time, but the administrators up the chain of command ignored them. The district will still probably try to throw teachers or building counselors under the bus, though.

That's just how public education works.

[Jilly_in_VA]

19. The superintendent might be

He was the one who said the punk brat "was not in need of discipline". Oh yeah?