Saturday, Oct. 24, 2009

Online readers speak up on Carolina Forest teen's death

Issac Bailey, writer and columnist for The Sun News, conducted a live forum Friday with readers about the recent death of Trevor Varinecz, a 16-year-old Carolina Forest High School student who was shot and killed by a school resource officer, Marcus Hughes.

Here are some of the highlights of the chat (some have been edited for clarity).

Reader question | Had the resource officer reprimanded the boy in the past or lately?

Bailey | As far as we know, they never had prior disciplinary problems with the 16-year-old. But that question, in general, is a good one, in terms of how many times students and officers have run-ins, is it increasing, decreasing and why? Those questions should be coming from the district to make sure we can stop these things in the future.

Reader | What are the district's guidelines on special needs children ?

Bailey | I've worked with autistic children a lot at different levels of competency, and it is an extremely delicate thing to deal with. The school district's policies on that have been reviewed but it's really difficult to state what they are, except on a case-by-case basis.

Reader | I wish teachers with concealed weapons permits could carry concealed handguns to help protect our kids.

Bailey | I can't say I agree with teachers carrying concealed weapons. It's hard enough for trained, veteran officers to make split-second decisions in dangerous situations. It's not an easy thing to do.

Reader | We certainly need more facts - but if the officer was stabbed from behind and he took lethal action it was justified. Having kids in school I would hope to have someone to protect them on campus.

Bailey | I'm waiting on the facts to go there, but I, too, have kids in this very school system. I also volunteer in these schools and my wife works in these schools. I'm extremely concerned and I want to get to the bottom of this, but also figure out if this is just a tragic anomaly or the tip of an iceberg.

Reader | "Righteous shoot" was the immediate comment and is a reflection of the political reality. Have you seen this little kid's picture? Can you imagine him being blasted all over the room by point-blank gunfire? If we are willing to grant that puncturing the officer's shirt required a gunshot in return, why were shots two, three, four and five necessary?

Bailey | I think your point hits home. No matter what happened or why, a 16-year-old was killed in our schools. That has to be a wake-up call for each of us.

Reader | What are parents doing? Are parents sitting their children down and having an open conversation after a tragedy like this?

Bailey | I think parents need to be having these kinds of conversations with their kids. In my family, unfortunately, we've had a lot of experience with these kinds of tragedies and have had to deal with them forthrightly. It's really the only way to get to the heart of things, to drive home a message and to remind our kids why the officers are in the schools and how to interact with them respectfully.

Reader | Children in general are not the same as the kids we went to school with. Many of them come from single-parent homes and there is very little discipline or even manners taught to them.

Bailey | I think the research shows that while the family has continued to evolve, like it has for centuries, that doesn't mean kids today are any more dangerous or out of control. There were problems in the nostalgic '50s, as well. But we do need more people to get involved because of the rising number of broken families. We know mentors help, and the school system has partnered with lots of agencies to provide many, and they always need more.