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My personal musings about anything that gets on my radar screen--heavily dominated by politics.

2005-03-23

How In The World, In A Post-Columbine World, Did We Miss This?

From the NYTimes:

Looking back at all the pieces, some who knew Jeff Weise say they wonder why someone did not see his eruption coming months, or even years, ago.

There was the threat Mr. Weise, 16, once made on his own life, sending him away from his home on the Red Lake Indian Reservation for psychiatric treatment. There were the pictures of bloodied bodies and guns he drew and shared freely with classmates. There was the story he apparently wrote about a shooting spree at a school in a small town.

"The clues were all there," said Kim DesJarlait, Mr. Weise's stepaunt, who lives in Minneapolis. "Everything was laid out, right there, for the school or the authorities in Red Lake to see it coming. I don't want to blame Red Lake, but did they not put two and two together? This kid was crying out, and those guys chose to ignore it. They need to start focusing on their kids."

First of all, and not to be glib, but. . . Where were you, Miss DesJarlait? If all the signs were, indeed, there, why did a family member not notice?

And that's not to absolve the school. If he shared his drawings freely with his classmates, it is more than likely that one or more of his teachers knew about them, as well. I cannot say with any certainty that any one person missed the signs, but perhaps this should be taken as a reminder to keep our eyes out in the schools.
Posted by: Michael / 3/23/2005 11:15:00 PM

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