School days, school days
Dear old golden rule days.
Readin’ and ‘ritin’ and ‘rithmetic
Taught to the tune of the hickory stick
–– Gus Edwards and Will D. Cobb (1907)
Virginia schools don’t use hickory sticks to impart discipline anymore, but they do have jail. And that’s where 18-year-old Elijah Schneider is heading after assaulting a fellow student at Strasburg High School.
Schneider pleaded guilty to assault and battery, possession of a weapon on school property, and use of profane language over an airway in a plea deal with the Shenandoah County Commonwealth Attorney’s Office. He was sentenced to six months in jail with time suspended.
Here is the account of the incident provided by Northern Virginia Daily:
The charges stem from an incident that took place around noon April 28 inside a classroom. Schneider had a box cutter at school and assaulted another student with the weapon, Shenandoah County Sheriff’s Office Capt. Kolter Stroop has said.
Schneider had said “I will put a bullet in someone’s head,” loud and angrily over a Facetime call and then went to a classroom, located the victim and a group of friends, the complaint states.
Schneider stood near the group, appearing angry and opening and closing a box cutter that he removed from his pocket, the complaint states. The box cutter was put to the neck of the victim, making contact but not causing injury, the complaint states.
Shenandoah County is 87.6% White, by the way, so I’m guessing that Mr. Schneider is White as well. Social breakdown is far advanced in the county. Thirty-five percent of households with children are headed by a single parent. The county made headlines a few years ago when a local prosecutor offered a 27-year-old man who had sired seven children by six women a reduction in his prison sentence if he underwent voluntary sterilization. Only 61% of White students passed their English SOLs in 2020-21, and only 49% passed their math. The percentages were even lower for Whites classified as economically disadvantaged.
Foll0w-up topic: With students like this, is Strasberg High School experiencing a teacher shortage?
