When a six-year-old shot and wounded his first-grade teacher in this shipbuilding city near Virginia's coast, the community reacted with collective shock.
During a three-hour school board meeting, Newport News teachers and parents said students who assaulted classmates and staff were routinely allowed to stay in the classroom with few consequences.
They said the shooting of Abigail Zwerner could have been prevented if not for a toxic environment in which teachers' concerns are systemically ignored.
READ MORE: No warning before 6-year-old boy shot teacher, police confirm
"Every day in every one of our schools, teachers, students and other staff members are being hurt," high school librarian Nicole Cooke said.
"Every day, they're hit. They're bitten. They're beaten. And they're allowed to stay so that our numbers look good."
Ms Cooke said: "If Abigail had been respected, she wouldn't be in the hospital right now."
Ms Zwerner was shot as she taught her first-grade class at Richneck Elementary on January 6.
There was no warning and no struggle before the six-year-old pointed the gun at his teacher and fired one round, police said.
The bullet pierced Ms Zwerner's hand and struck her chest. The 25-year-old hustled her students out of the classroom before being rushed to the hospital.
Newport News police said the six-year-old's mother legally purchased the gun but that it was unclear how her son gained access to it.
A Virginia law prohibits leaving a loaded gun where it is accessible to a child under 14, a crime punishable with a maximum one-year prison sentence and $2,500 (€2.311) fine. No charges have been brought against the mother so far.
Community reaction shifted into anger late last week after the superintendent revealed that Richneck administrators had learned the child may have had a weapon before the shooting. But a search did not find the 9mm handgun despite staff looking through his bag.
Ms Zwerner's shooting was "completely preventable - if the red flags had been taken seriously and proper procedures clearly communicated and followed," Amber Thomas, a former school psychologist, said.
Cindy Connell, a middle school teacher who also addressed the board, said that school system leaders fear angering parents and are too focused on limiting discipline such as suspensions.
"Our administrators are under an intense pressure to make everything appear better than it is in reality," Ms Connell said.
"I have teacher friends who have been hit by kindergarteners, kicked by kindergarteners, punched by kindergarteners, stabbed with pencils by kindergarteners," she said.
"So the only difference is that this child had access to a weapon at home. So, if you put those two things together, I'm not surprised."
In a statement, the Newport News School Board thanked the teachers, parents, students and others who shared their concerns "with candor" at the board's meeting.
"We listened intently and we are reflecting on each speaker's comments. We know our community wants action and we are determined to follow up on the recommendations and concerns we heard," the board said in its statement.
"In the coming days, weeks and months, the School Board will take the necessary steps to restore public confidence in Newport News Public Schools."
Newport News schools have endured two other shootings in a little over a year.
In September 2021, two 17-year-old students were wounded when a 15-year-old boy fired shots in a crowded high school hallway after he had a fight with one of the students.
Two months after that shooting, an 18-year-old student fatally shot a 17-year-old in the parking lot of a different high school after a football game.
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