Teacher charged after 2 principals shot at school

[Ghost in the Machine]

Teacher charged after 2 principals shot at school

Associated Press - February 10, 2010 4:25 PM ET

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - Officials say a Knoxville elementary school principal has been critically injured and her assistant principal was wounded during a shooting at their office. Police identified the suspect as a co-worker.

Police said they charged 48-year-old Mark Stephen Foster with two counts of attempted first-degree murder after the shooting at Inskip Elementary School on Wednesday afternoon. The school Web site identifies Foster as a fourth-grade teacher at Inskip.

University of Tennessee Medical Center officials said Principal Elisa Luna was in critical condition and Assistant Principal Amy Brace was in stable condition.

No students were at school during the early afternoon shooting because they had been dismissed early for snow. A school spokeswoman said classes would canceled for the rest of the week.

http://www.wrcbtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=11965357

[Sabriel]

1. Those poor kids

I hope the district has a good crisis intervention plan in place.

[malaise]

6. There were no kids in the school

according to earlier reports - snow day

[proud2BlibKansan]

10. The kids still need crisis counseling

It's routine whenever anyone in the school community is a victim of a tragedy. And this happened at school. These kids are going to have a hard time dealing with it, especially if these administrators were popular.

Very sad in many ways.

[etherealtruth]

14. Students, STAFF and parents will all need support available

No doubt the kids will be deeply effected (and they should be our first concern) .... but sheesh, I can't imagine that the staff will fare much better.

[nonconformist]

11. There were a few, along with pretty much all of the staff.

The students had been released early due to the weather, but there were still a few students waiting to be picked up when the shooting occurred. Chances are they were waiting in the office since this is an elementary school, but I haven't heard confirmation on that.

Still, tragic for the children, whether they were there or not.

[ashling]

16. That fact does not obviate the concern of the original post

A teacher from the school alledgedly shot the two principals. Whether they were there or not, that is pretty damn traumatic for a bunch of elementary kids.

Now if they were High School, they might set up a legal defence fund for the teacher. The assistant principle where I went to HS was pretty universally detested - used to go through people's cars looking for - what else - pot.

[nonconformist]

2. This has been all over my local news this afternoon.

My kid took over the TV to play Xbox, so this is the first I've heard that they identified the shooter as a teacher. Very sad, I hope the women survive. And I'm thankful the kids weren't at the school when this happened.

[rocktivity]

5. Any word on a possible motive?

:shrug:
rocktivity

[nonconformist]

8. I haven't heard a motive yet... here are some pictures...

Victims:



Shooter:


Turns out there were a couple of students still in the building when this happened, along with most of the staff.

[Ghost in the Machine]

15. His contract was not going to be renewed...

"The shooting was at the school at 4701 High School Road in North Knoxville at 12:49 p.m. Police said a revolver was used, but they haven't released a possible motive.

However, according to Knox County Superintendent Dr. Jim McIntyre, Foster's contract was not going to be renewed."

{snip}

More about the victims

Elisa Luna is the daughter of former state Sen. Jerry Cooper.

She's been principal at Inskip Elementary since January 2004.

Luna previously served as an assistant principal at Sarah Moore Greene Magnet School, an administrative assistant at Inskip the curriculum and instruction facilitator at Christenberry Elementary and a special education teacher at Green Academy.

She was awarded East Tennessee principal of the year in 2008.

Amy Brace has been the assistant principal at Inskip since July 2008.

Brace previously served as the magnet lead educator at Sarah Moore Greene Magnet School and as a PE instructor at Sarah Moore Greene.

http://www.wate.com/Global/story.asp?S=11964121

[roguevalley]

60. I have had principals that I wanted to shoot but I didn't. some

can be lower than dog shit. This is an awful story all around.

[MadMaddie]

62. According to the story the guy has a long history of mental

illness...a former employer filed a restraining order against him and his own brother filed a restraint order against him...

the story also indicates that the school was not going to rehire him.

Mental Illness

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

3. I wonder if the anti-teacher union folks will pick up on this one.

[rocktivity]

4. What in the world...

Had he been fired?

rocktivity
:wow:

[Enrique]

9. if not, he will be now

or possibly transferred.

[proud2BlibKansan]

12. Or imprisoned

I would be shocked if he isn't fired in a day or two.

[tonysam]

24. He wasn't being renewed anyway.

The problem is when administrators don't renew your contract, your career is basically finished. At 48, like he is, it is difficult if not impossible to train for a new career. And because he wasn't "tenured," he had utterly no legal recourse against a nonrenewal or dismissal.

That's before he decided to end his career in the most dramatic way possible.

[tonysam]

20. His contract wasn't renewed.

Which leads to more questions as to whether there were financial pressures motivating the shootings, or whether the two administrators, who both look like they are barely out of college, were harassing him all year.

[madmom]

21. One was 40, the other 41. Sounds like a "blame the victim" statement. Without knowing

all the details why would you jump to a conclusion like they were harassing him? Never mind, "both look like they are barely out of college" looks and age mean everything right. :banghead:

[proud2BlibKansan]

34. Have you ever seen a teacher be non renewed?

It's an ugly process. It's not just one event on one day. It involves a school year's worth of harassment by administrators. And many times it is unjustified and the result of a dislike of the teacher rather than his incompetence.

I am in NO WAY justifying shooting a principal and a vice principal. But I certainly understand the stress this teacher may have been under if he has already been told he is not being renewed.

[mzteris]

43. it sounds like the guy

was mentally ill already -

he probably should have never been a classroom to begin with.

[tonysam]

58. Not in this case, but age discrimination IS rampant

in public education and often it is done by young principals. You have to have been in the system to know how organized harassment happens. I've been there and it happened to me and am looking for legal recourse.

Principals are almost never fired--teachers are routinely fired and for the stupidest of reasons.

This case isn't one of them as subsequent reports have shown.

[mzteris]

27. nope.

He was just mentally ill. He had a restraining order against him made by his brother and charges of mental illness.

Maybe he was acting "strangely" at school so they were getting rid of him the first chance they got. . .

Can you really blame them?

[Shell Beau]

49. Really? Weird that you would think like that.

He shot them BUT they were young and possibly harassing him???? How about he just went postal and lost it?

I wasn't led to those questions at all. I was thinking the man lost it and HOPE the women recover fully. I was also thinking of how horrific this must be on the kids of the school and the rest of the staff.

[proud2BlibKansan]

51. And I am wondering why the hell they hired this guy in the first place

and why he wasn't terminated for his police record.

If administrators had done their job, this shooting wouldn't have happened.

[Shell Beau]

52. Maybe. But this guy is to blame. No one else.

Unfortunately, I bet there are a quite a few people who are working in the school system that wouldn't be if they'd been checked out properly. Do we know if his past problems came before or after being hired?

[proud2BlibKansan]

55. It doesn't matter if his problems came after he was hired.

An administrator (probably several) dropped the ball here. He should have been fired because of his criminal record. Contrary to popular belief, teachers can be fired for things they do that are against the law. There is a morals clause in teacher contracts.

Non renewed means he gets to stay until the end of the year. He was mentally ill and they allowed him to be with children every day?! That is just inexcusable.

So yes, he chose to shoot these women. But if the school district had done what it is supposed to do, he would have been fired before he had the chance to shoot anyone.

[tonysam]

65. No. For Christ's sake, I posted that post before many of the facts came in.

Quit twisting my goddamned words.

Principals DO harass teachers; this apparently wasn't the case here.

[Shell Beau]

66. I didn't twist any words, and it sounds like you need to calm down.

[Name removed]

7. Deleted sub-thread

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[nonconformist]

13. BREAKING: Teacher wasn't being renewed for next year

Possible motive. Just being reported now.

[TheCowsCameHome]

17. No doubt about it now.

[tonysam]

19. I wonder how long the teacher was there, and if the teacher was targeted.

My guess the teacher wasn't "tenured." The only surprise is these shootings aren't more common against principals and other administrators.

Of course there might be financial pressures motivating the shootings, but we will have to wait and see what subsequent reports say.

[proud2BlibKansan]

35. And if he had already been told he is not being renewed

It's still pretty early in the year to be firing teachers.

I can't imagine being told several months before the year is over that you are being fired. How many other occupations are there where you have to keep going to work for months before your last day?

It's a fucked up system that's for sure.

No way does this justify shooting people. But the stress is hard to understand for anyone who doesn't teach.

[tonysam]

57. I wonder what their date for telling people they're not being renewed is.

n/t

[mzteris]

23. do you wonder WHY he wasn't being renewed?

Sounds to me like he shouldn't have been renewed. Doesn't it to you?

Obviously if he was whack enough to shoot people over - he was probably putting off pretty whack vibes to begin with.

edit word usage.

[tonysam]

18. More details

The Tennessee Education Association issued a statement tonight in reaction to the shootings.

"The TEA was saddened to learn of today's incident in Knoxville. Tennessee's teachers' thoughts and prayers are with the victims of this tragedy. We would like to extend our support to all of those touched by this incident," TEA President Earl Wiman said in the statement.

"TEA is thankful for the quick actions of the Knox County Police Department and Knox County Schools in relation to this unfortunate incident."

Both of the women "were alert and conscious" after the shootings, Knoxville Police Department spokesman Darrell DeBusk said.

Neither of these administrators look very old judging from the pictures, but that's par for the course anymore in public ed. (Looked it up on USA People Search. Luna is 41, Brace is 40, and I would bet they aren't first-year principals and APs.) I'd really like to know what provoked it. I doubt this came from out of the blue.

More

[mzteris]

26. Maybe this has something to do with it?

http://web.knoxnews.com/pdf/2010/feb/021110inskipweb.pdf


be sure to read the complaint. . .

[intheflow]

38. Holy shit.

That's his brother fearing for his life, swearing out the complaint! And it mentions other restraining orders, too. And had a warning that Foster had a gun. Fascinating, if disturbing, read.

However, I'm sure they chose to not renew him either based on erratic behavior at work or simply for budget cuts. If they'd read the report, they'd have known he was armed and I'm sure they would have taken better precautions, like having the police there to escort him off the premises. They seem like pretty smart ladies, from their bios.

[proud2BlibKansan]

50. Non renewed means he stays till the end of the year

If this man had this kind of a record, I don't understand why he was not fired, meaning out of his classroom NOW.

So I disagree they were smart ladies. If they knew of his record, they were placing kids at risk every day. That is inexcusable.

[intheflow]

63. But the key word here is "if."

You don't know and neither do I. I said in my post I doubted they knew, otherwise they would have taken precautions. And let me add the obvious: or if they knew they would have fired him outright. My hypothesis was that he'd either been nutty in school or budget constraints. You're the one assuming the victims were morons for not thinking an employee would shoot them over being non-renewed.

[proud2BlibKansan]

64. I do not think the victims were morons

I think someone dropped the ball here. It could have been central office administrators. It doesn't have to be the victims.

[tonysam]

22. More details from AP

Tennessee Department of Education spokeswoman Rachel Woods said Foster received an apprentice teacher license for grades K-6 in the summer of 2007. An apprentice license is issued when someone first starts teaching, before they have tenure, she said.

...

The administrators had been praised for their work at the elementary school, where Luna had been the principal since 2004 and Brace had been assistant principal since July 2008.

"These are two outstanding educators," McIntyre said.

Sen. Jamie Woodson, R-Knoxville, said the Legislature honored the principal in 2007 for her work leading the school off the state's list of schools not meeting the goals of No Child Left Behind program. The school of more than 300 students in grades kindergarten through 5 has met annual goals every year since 2004.

"It's obviously a very disturbing situation," Woodson said.

Luna is the daughter of former state Sen. Jerry Cooper, Senate Democratic Leader Jim Kyle said. Cooper couldn't immediately be reached for comment.

link

[Indy Lurker]

25. Looks like the principal was right

not to be re-newing Mr. Foster's contract.

He is clearly too mentally disturbed to be teaching in an elementary school.


Good thing one of his students wasn't in the way when he snapped.

[mzteris]

28. ayuh . . .

http://web.knoxnews.com/pdf/2010/feb/021110inskipweb.pdf

[tonysam]

40. They had to have had some information before not renewing his contract

But again...why wasn't a background check done on this guy...he had to be fingerprinted before he could be allowed to teach.

[seaker]

29. Wonder what the last straw was???

[tonysam]

32. See my post below for possible reasons for nonrenewal of his contract

It looks like he has had a history of behavior which really isn't considered to be "fit" to teach.

The school district didn't have to renew his contract regardless.

[seaker]

33. No they don't have too...

Wonder what he perceived to be the point of no return. He probably had some sort of reviews and feedback. Seems early in the year to be notified he would not return because of the potential for a teacher to 'slack' especially before testing..

[tonysam]

36. I just wonder if the administrators didn't have some information

about his erratic behavior outside of school. They are supposed to have some kind of paper trail, but there isn't much a teacher can do if he or she doesn't have tenure. He was an "at-will" employee.

[seaker]

61. What do you think his lessons were like in 4th grade?

How did he ever get hired????

[tonysam]

30. Here are some details that may shed further light on the alleged shooter

Mark Foster works in Knox County Schools but lives in Clinton. Neighbors to his mobile home expressed shock that he'd be a suspect in this shooting.

But he does have a list of past complaints against him with the Anderson County Sheriff's Office.

A neighbor filed a report saying he was driving erratically, on multiple occasions, to harass her. She indicated she'd seek an order of protection against him.

A complaint from his brother indicated he was walking down the road, causing a disturbance by yelling at people as he walked. Another complaint from his brother resulted in is brother taking out an order of protection against him.

A complaint from a hair stylist indicated Foster had contacted her residence and shop, making threats over a bad haircut.
Police reports indicated he was known to carry a handgun and a baseball bat, and that he did not have a permit to carry a gun.

The sheriff's office's files including Mark Foster also have several entries in which Foster is the one making a complaint, including a suspicious person at his home, the theft of a chainsaw from his home, and threats made against him by others.

link


Of course teachers without tenure can be let go for any reason, so he was out of luck. I wonder how much these allegations played into the decision.

[proud2BlibKansan]

37. Sounds like he is mentally ill. Which leads to the question ~

Who the fuck hired him in the first place? And why?

[tonysam]

39. And...Why didn't they do a background check on this guy

before they hired him? I mean you have to be fingerprinted, for cryin' out loud, and he was in a police database.

[proud2BlibKansan]

44. More careless administrators

I know you understand that.

But I have a feeling his co-workers (and his union) are being blamed for his incompetence.

[intheflow]

48. He could have been teaching there for 20 years.

From before they required that kind of thing. And then he was grandfathered in. I don't know if that's what happened, but it's feasible, given his age.

[proud2BlibKansan]

53. Teaching contracts have morals clauses in them

meaning we can be fired at any time for criminal behavior. So there is really no such thing as being grandfathered in, at least not when you break the law. And many districts do sweeps where they look at criminal records for active employees. I know teachers who have been fired for getting a DUI.

Someone dropped the ball here. It's tragic.

[tonysam]

54. You're dead meat if you have ANY kind of criminal record

and you are in education. I mean, it's that cut-and-dried.

States like Oregon and California are extremely strict when it comes to their applications for licensure. If you have ANY kind of police record except for minor traffic offenses, it MUST be reported. I don't care if it's DUI, stalking, marijuana possession, ANY kind of record--it must be reported.

And if you do these any of these things while you are teaching in public schools, you will at the very least be suspended from your job and it goes on your license.

[proud2BlibKansan]

56. A veteran teacher I know

was fired not long ago for getting a DUI. Actually it was one of several. She was tenured but that didn't matter. She's gone.

[proud2BlibKansan]

59. Found this

Tennessee Department of Education spokeswoman Rachel Woods said Foster received an apprentice teacher license for grades K-6 in the summer of 2007. An apprentice license is issued when someone first starts teaching, before they have tenure, she said.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,585401,00.html?loomia_ow=t0:s0:a4:g4:r2:c0.000000:b0:z5

[Indy Lurker]

41. He may not have been mentally ill

when he was hired.

I had to terminate a 30 year employee for drug / alcohol issues. He was fine until 3 yrs ago.

When he was terminated, he had become a danger to himself and others, and would not seek treatment.

[tonysam]

42. Of course mental illness doesn't disqualify anybody from working as a teacher

It's his alleged police record that is a problem. Now when those incidents I mentioned earlier occurred is the big question.

[proud2BlibKansan]

47. It's a pattern in education

The administrators hire teachers who shouldn't have been hired. Who knows why but it does happen.

Also if he has a police record as posted in this thread, why is he STILL teaching? Being non-renewed means he finishes the year and then doesn't come back next year. If this man is truly mentally ill AND has a criminal record, he should have been fired, meaning he leaves that day, and doesn't get to stay until June.

[intheflow]

45. There's a link upthread to a .pdf of his brother's restraining order complaint.

Apparently their mother recently died and the brother, Anthony Foster, was executor of the will. Apparently his bother didn't care for how the estate was divided. That complaint also mentioned Mark Foster had a history of mental illness. So:

weird erratic guy with anger issues
+ mental illness
+ gun
+ feels screwed out of inheritance
+ fired from job
---------------------------
absolutely losing it.

[tomm2thumbs]

31. there's crazy in every occupation

more-so in the govt of course, but that goes without saying

[varelse]

46. Very sad - apparently he is mentally ill

I'm glad the two women were not killed.