Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

A Newport News jury found former assistant principal Ebony Parker liable for the maiming of first-grade teacher Abigail Zwerner, who was shot by a 6-year-old student at Richneck Elementary in January 2023. Parker failed to act on multiple warnings that the shooter might have a gun. Jurors awarded Zwerner $10 million in damages . The child’s mother was already serving a nearly four-year prison sentence for having pleaded guilty to related charges of child neglect and using marijuana while owning a firearm.

As the director of patient safety for a large health care system, I learned that an organization’s safety culture flows from the top down. Richneck experienced clear pre- and post-shooting safety oversights, but few school leaders have

See Full Page