Richland Zoom class interrupted when 10-year-old student displays a gun
A Richland elementary student did a virtual version of “show and tell” Monday when he pulled out an airsoft gun for his classmates to see.
The 10-year-old, who was in an online Zoom class for Lewis & Clark Elementary School, was immediately placed in a breakout room and his video feed was cutoff from the view of other students.
School staff then were able to talk one-on-one with the boy while Principal Marc’ C. Nelson alerted law enforcement.
While the boy was disciplined for inappropriate behavior in the classroom and will be closely watched in the future, the school decided to approach it as a teaching moment for both educators and students in this ever-changing COVID-19 virtual world.
There was no real disruption to the class Monday, said Ty Beaver, Richland School District’s director of communications.
“There has been a thorough review and it was determined there was no malice or threat on the part of the student showing that airsoft gun,” Beaver said. “It wasn’t meant to intimidate anyone. It was a part of a classroom discussion, from what I understand.”
The call to dispatch came in about 12:18 p.m. that a student “showed a gun and bullets at the Zoom meeting to the teacher and the class,” according to scanner traffic.
A Benton County sheriff’s deputy was sent to the boy’s West Richland home to check on the situation.
“Also, they are advising that the student didn’t threaten anyone, just showed it. And the mother was in the background,” the emergency dispatcher later added.
Target shooting
Beaver told the Tri-City Herald that, as it was explained to him, the class was discussing what their families like to do on the weekends and the student brought up target shooting.
“It’s not inappropriate for students to talk about the fact they like to go target shooting with their families, but weapons do not have a place in the classroom, either virtual or otherwise,” he said.
Classroom discipline consequences still apply for inappropriate behavior, even when elementary school students are only meeting in online sessions twice a day.
“Students act up in classrooms when they are in person. No one is to believe they wouldn’t do that in a virtual environment as well,” said Beaver. “We’re really proud of the staff with how quickly and how calmly they responded.”
Beaver did not know if it was the paraeducator or the teacher who cut off the boy’s video feed to the rest of the students, but said both were in the class that day. He could not confirm if the student’s mother was in fact in the background when he displayed the gun.
Beaver said both sheriff’s deputies and school administrators have spoken to the student and his family about the incident.
He added that the boy’s age and maturity level were considered, and that he will be closely monitored with tighter controls on his video feed so it doesn’t happen again.