Teacher shot by 6-year-old student resigns while lawyer says she was fired
The teacher who was shot by her six-year-old student in January has left her job, her attorneys said on Tuesday.
Abby Zwerner is no longer employed by Richneck Elementary School, where one of her first grade students took out a gun from his backpack and fire one round at her on January 6.
The bullet from the gun struck Zwerner through her left hand and embedded into her chest. ‘I think it will always be there,’ she said in her first interview after the shooting.
The 25-year-old teacher’s last day at work was scheduled for June 12. Newport News Public Schools says she resigned, but her attorneys say she was fired.
‘NNPS has processed a separation of employment for you effective the close of business 06/12/2023,’ the email titled ‘Exit Letter’ reads.
Zwerner’s lawyer, Jeffrey Breit, said this was a firing.
‘I don’t think you can read this any other way than you’ve been fired,’ Breit told local station WAVY. ‘And that’s what she thinks. She doesn’t understand it; there’s no other communication.’
However, school officials have insisted that Zwerner herself resigned on March 13.
‘The email that Ms. Zwerner received from the Human Resources Department is a confirmation of her separation of service from Newport News Public Schools,’ the district said in a statement. ‘Every employee who is separating from the school division receives a similar communication.’
The district also provided a series of emails between Zwerner and their human resources department.
In a brief statement she wrote: ‘I wish to resign. Thank you.’
However, Breit said Zwerner was shocked when the next communication she received was ‘separation of employment’ email sent in May.
In April, Zwerner filed a $40,000,000 lawsuit against the school district, the entire school board, Superintendent George Parker III, Richneck Principal Briana Foster-Newton, and Richneck Assistant Principal Ebony Parker.
Breit said he believes the district is trying to put ‘pressure’ on the former teacher due to the litigation. ‘They haven’t paid her in a couple of months. They are trying to squeeze her.’
Newport News Public Schools said they sent Zwerner a check for worker’s compensation – only two-thirds of her paycheck – after her paid sick leave time was used up. Zwerner refused to take it.
‘We immediately sent it back. This is not workers comp,’ her lawyer said.
Worker’s comp in Virginia is paid to employees who are injured ‘by a specific work activity’ or suffer from a disease ’caused by work.’
Breit argues that Zwerner’s injuries are not from her typical work activity, and said he planned to ask each first-grade teacher at Richneck Elementary School under oath if ‘getting shot by one of your students was part of your job description.’
The school board has rejected Zwerner’s claim and moved to throw the lawsuit out.
‘While in an ideal world, young children would not pose any danger to others, including their teachers, this is sadly not reality,’ the school district told the court.
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