Oregon Targeted: A Family and the Quest to Stop the Next School Shooter

[Joe Link]

Targeted: A Family and the Quest to Stop the Next School Shooter

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[Lilhigbee]

So let's sum up this story; a librarian mistakenly reports a derogatory nickname that she overheard out of context and attributes it to the wrong person. Then thousands of dollars in resources and hundreds of hours of people's time are wasted to make sure a child with a difficult future is hounded into becoming what they claim to be trying to prevent. Got it. Oh, and the only way to get back to where he was academically before the witch hunt is to go to night school and miss out on the best part of school for him, theater.
I sure hope all those folks involved are proud of themselves. Sadly, I'm sure they are.

 

[NW Backpacker]

That article took up almost 5 entire pages in the 6/24/2018 Sunday Oregonian, starting on page A1.

 

[JeremyK]

"So when a police officer came to his home without a warrant, Mark welcomed him inside. He handed over the family guns despite having no legal obligation to do so."

Oh boy, do I feel safe now.

I'm glad they confiscated the safety scissors as well.

 

[3MTA3]

Nothing like common sense school policies. The kid is lucky he never ate a pop tart or he'd be institutionalized by now.

 

[ZigZagZeke]

Targeted: A Family and the Quest to Stop the Next School Shooter

As the father of a 7 year old who is "on the spectrum" I can completely relate to these parents. The educational machine swallowed and ground up their son, only to spit him back out even more wounded and depressed. This is what happens when due process is suspended in the name of confidentiality and child protection. There is no chance to confront and explain away misperceptions and lies. People are needlessly injured.

 

[Andy54Hawken]

Seems like the school in question needed to step back a bit and realize that some of the behavior may just be because of the fact that the student is Autistic ....which in and of itself , is not a cause for alarm.

Yes students who fall into a "category" or "profile" should be investigated... if they provide a cause for concern...being on the spectrum and associated behavior is not cause enough.

It can be difficult to know every student in the school...but looking at each student as an individual and their own situation is key here.
Andy

 

[Ura-Ki]

It's a societal disconnect of children that are slightly different from the accepted norms, so any one outside those norms draws extra scrutney from the hyper aware adults and then lorded over until someting breaks! These schools need to do a much better job of training staff in observing and reporting, and upon reporting, the reportee needs wide latitude in choices of action if any, and there needs to be wide discression excersized before any further action is taken!
We are at a point where far to many kids are shunted off the main rail and then lost in the system, and we wonder why they fail, or they take actions themselves because they dont understand what's happening to them bjt know its wrong, some times VERY WRONG, and the entire team surrounding these children needs to do a much better job!

@AndyinEverson, I know full well what you deal with daily, I came from that world and would have been in your classes as a student! I also understand the disconnect the students experience as they are pulled aside from the rest of the students simply because they are different! Again, schools need to do a much better job, and the parents of these children need to be hyper active in support of their children put in these programs!

 

[Wombat of Doom]

I was a kid that people targeted after Columbine. I was a teenager who dressed in black, favored trench coats and listened to death metal. I liked guns. I had an SKS with a 30 round magazine, and I liked guns and knives and swords.

And I had used them in self defense scenarios already unfortunately. I never fired a round, but I stood on the other side of a kicked in door and held the line against a home invader. Honestly, I probably was a little obsessed with the thing that saved my life.

 

[3MTA3]

I was a kid that people targeted after Columbine. I was a teenager who dressed in black, favored trench coats and listened to death metal. I liked guns. I had an SKS with a 30 round magazine, and I liked guns and knives and swords.

And I had used them in self defense scenarios already unfortunately. I never fired a round, but I stood on the other side of a kicked in door and held the line against a home invader. Honestly, I probably was a little obsessed with the thing that saved my life.

Most of my graduating class wore nothing but black, got in fistfights on a routine bases, and kept a 30-30 on a rear window rack in their pickup truck or the trunk of their car. They also drank, did drugs, and listened to what our parent's called "devil music".

None of them snapped and shot up a bunch of people, heck, one of them is now the town Mayor and we are gathering for our 40th reunion in a few weeks - doctors, lawyers, career military, even a hollywood producer.

 

[Ura-Ki]

What I find alarming and extremely sad, in all the years since I was in 1st grade and separated out from the rest of the kids, not one G-Damn thing has changed for the better in how these students are handled, or any improvements made in teaching standards and training of teachers to work with students who function outside the accepted norms, often at a higher level then their "Gifted" classmates! I was classified as "Learning disabled" what a crock of chit title for something that is/was not ever a disability of any kind or form, and yet I was places in a class with autistic and down syndrome kids, and even a blind girl! She and I became best friends, and have remained such these last 40 years , because we didn't belong there and were united in our common disdain for our predicament! Why would the school place a blind child in a class of seriously developmentally challenged kids? And doing that, why would you be surprised at the child who rebels against that, knowing they do not belong there, but have no power to change any thing for them selves! This is a major problem and as yet has remained un touched! Public schools cannot and will not change, and thanks to the No child left behind B.S. were stuck on the spin cycle!

 

[41mag]

"First there is a mountain/then there's not/then there is" teaching and science and medical theory/etc is a series of increasingly more precise errors based on applying as possible to those unable to scurry away rapidly enough

 

[HB of CJ]

So much of the article does not ring true. Or even closely. The guy actually let the cop inside his home without a warrant? Non believable. Then let him or them take all the guns? You must be joking.

 

[Pete F]

Wow, I am saddened and disgusted with what they put the kid and family through. I am not a sue happy person, but I would be going after all involved - both barrels. The money from the suit could be used to give the kid a decent education.

They ruined his life for nothing but unwarranted fear and poorly thought out policies. If this is their answer to stop school shootings, they are wasting resources.

 

[Heyjoe]

Gut wrenching, heart breaking.

I hope the people involved are ashamed of themselves. Talk about being inclusive, nothing says inclusive like alienating those who are different.

Disgusting.

 

[3MTA3]

Gut wrenching, heart breaking.

I hope the people involved are ashamed of themselves. Talk about being inclusive, nothing says inclusive like alienating those who are different.

Disgusting.

And potentially turning a vulnerable youth into the monster they fear by ostracizing him.

 

[awshoot]

"First there is a mountain/then there's not/then there is" teaching and science and medical theory/etc is a series of increasingly more precise errors based on applying as possible to those unable to scurry away rapidly enough

I feel like you need a link for that quote:

 

[awshoot]

So much of the article does not ring true. Or even closely. The guy actually let the cop inside his home without a warrant? Non believable. Then let him or them take all the guns? You must be joking.

I totally believe he let them in. Too few people have seen this:

 

[SUPER X]

Targeted: A Family and the Quest to Stop the Next School Shooter

The kid was targeted because he wore a trench coat, do you think if he went to school wearing a dress this would have happened ?

 

[justcuz]

Alas, while the emotionalized article about the family is touching, of greater concern should be the article's commentary about school psychologist Van Dreal's 1999 +/- development of the threat assessment tool 'currently' in use within educational systems in OR & WA as well as other states of this Union.

Powerpoint snapshot:
http://ocsd62.org/sites/default/files/pages/StudentThreatAssessmentJohnVanDreal-Fall2013.pdf

Interview after parkland shooting:
Florida shooting puts focus on safety plan developed by Salem-Keizer schools

[I am unable to ascertain if this 'tool' has been objectively peer reviewed by others within the educational academic profession per se., who could determine its reliability, repeatability, as well as it's validity to prevent squati! Nor Mr. VanDreal's credentialed educational background to facilitate development of such a body of work.]