Mother banned from school because she has a conceal carry permit, posted it on FB

[The Straight Story]

HEPZIBAH, GA (WRDW) -- Tanya Mount says she is being targeted by the administrator at her daughter's school after a meeting between the two several week ago.

....

"He tells me that were going to issue you a criminal trespass warning," says Mount. The notice banned her from McBean Elementary School where her disabled daughter attends.

She asked what she did wrong. "The principal is scared of you and she doesn't want you on the grounds. I ask for what? And he asks were you in the Army and I said yes. He's like do you have a concealed weapons permit? I said yes," says Mount.

Mount who is a parent volunteer says she is banned from the school for posting a picture of her new concealed weapons permit on her Facebook page.

...

"She told me that instead of volunteering at the school and playing on the play ground with my daughter I need to be at home doing grown up things," says Dallas.

http://www.wrdw.com/news/onyourside/headlines/12-On-Your-Side-Banned-from-childs-elementary-school-for-Facebook-picture-229770981.html

Richmond County, GA -

News Channel 6's Tyrone McCoy asks McBean Elementary Principal, Janina Dallas "was the no trespass order issued because of the facebook post? Principal: yes it was."

Tanya Mount says the post of her weapons permit was on her private Facebook page. McBean Elementary School Principal Janina Dallas says the order was a preventative measure.

"It is my duty and responsibility as the principal of this school to ensure the safety and security of all of our faculty, staff and students," explains Principal Dallas.

...

Principal Dallas says several PTO members pointed out instances where Mount would disrupt classes and where Mount said she wouldn't let anybody bother her daughter

The principal says with the rash of school shootings, coupled with Mount's comments and the permit, it was cause for alarm.

http://www.wjbf.com/story/23845263/richmond-county-mom-banned-from-childs-school#.UnL7L5GjGFk.facebook

[Gravitycollapse]

1. What strange circumstances all around.

There's more to this story than is being told here.

[TeeYiYi]

52. I agree...

...there's more to this story.

I suspect the mom and the principal have some kind of personal past that has escalated behind the scenes. Posting your concealed carry permit on facebook is not only a dick move, it could be perceived as a threat.

Who posts their CC on fb unless they're trying to make a statement; veiled or otherwise?

TYY

[Niceguy1]

2. crazy

She should take it to court.

[HereSince1628]

41. Evidence that fear is a strong motivator of radical behavior.

Possession of a gun on school property is a valid concern.

Possession of a conceal-carry pemit is not.

What's next in the Matrix? If you link to Gander Mountain's Website, you can't volunteer for, or visit your kid's school?

[madrchsod]

3. there is no privacy on facebook.

the principal overreacted.

[Packerowner740]

4. Unbelievable what people will put on Facebook

I post pictures of animals, give no private information and discuss no politics. You never know what the nut jobs out there might do.

[Revanchist]

5. I would love to ask the principle two questions

Have you every banned anyone else from the school because you know they have a CC permit.

If the first answer is yes then were they white or are you just banning "scary African-Americans" with gunz?

[B Calm]

6. Was she bringing her concealed weapon to the elementary school? If the

answer is no, I would think the principal is a racist and should be fired!

[Glitterati]

7. Here's the key to this story, right here

Principal Dallas says several PTO members pointed out instances where Mount would disrupt classes and where Mount said she wouldn't let anybody bother her daughter

So, she pissed off the PTO or one of those members had an issue with her and they took her Facebook page to the principal and told him/her all kinds of BS.

Been there, done that with my daughter in middle school when she was doing tween fighting with a teacher's daughter. The teachers (both parents teachers) went to the SRO and had them threaten my daughter!

These school politics can get out of hand when you or your kid manage to piss off the right people and I've never met a PTO member in any school who wasn't just a plain old busybody gossip with a God complex.

on edit:
Most likely, this PTO gossip has a kid that is bullying this woman's child. The woman decided to take matters into her own hands and be at school as much as possible to put a stop to it. So the PTO gossip took it one step further by involving the principal, and the dumb ass principal fell for it.

[Nine]

9. "I've never met a PTO member... who wasn't just a plain old busybody gossip with a God complex."

Wow. Broadbrush much?

There's a lot missing from this story. What was on that FB post? Was it just a photo of the permit or did it say something provacative? Was it posted immediately after a conflict at the school? And why is a parent hanging out at the school in the first place?

[The Straight Story]

11. Try clicking on the link, and you can go to her FB page

Her daughter has (edit: Aspergers) and she 'hangs' out in the school to help her (my mom was pretty active in my elementary as well, was there a lot and became good friends with the teachers and principal).

The daughter was transferred to another school in the district and the mom was given her PTO card back to continue volunteering in the school. If they thought she was a gun wacko who was violent the police would have been called and they could have not allowed her into the new school.

There is more to the story probably. Black woman married to a white man in the south, white principal. The 'more' is probably racism.

[Nine]

25. Still not seeing it.

I clicked on both your news links and saw no links to the fb page. I watched both videos without sound and did not see them show the fb page.

[The Straight Story]

29. Just go to FB and go to her page (her name is in the story) (nt)

[Nine]

36. I'm not finding her FB page.

I don't belong to FB so maybe I don't have access to advanced search features. In any case, it seems like an important piece to leave out of the story. I'd like to see what exactly was on that facebook post and the posts right before it. DUers may see this as a race issue but I'll bet right-wingers have a different take on it - how gun owners and those in the military are being discriminated against, how schools are run by overpaid government workers and teacher unions that are never held accountable. All I know is, this is only half a story, and I'd like to see the rest of it.

[Glitterati]

12. All one needs to do is click the first link

and watch the damned video and read the story.

Yes, I stand behind my comment.

Why SHOULDN'T a parent "hang out at the school?" Jezzz, you just can't please anyone around here. First they complain that parents aren't involved in their child's education, then slam a parent for "hanging out at school too much" when they DO get involved.

Yeah, broad brush. If the shoe fits.............

[Nine]

27. "just can't please anyone"

You mean like parents getting involved by joining PTO and then getting called busybodies with a god complex?

There's a big difference between volunteering in a productive way and hanging out on the playground causing disruptions. The school had spoken to her about this before the concealed carry business, so the headline is misleading.

[ScreamingMeemie]

13. Well, I used to "hang out" at the school as a volunteer.

The schools my kids went to were pretty big on asking parents to "hang out" at the schools for help in classrooms, in the lunchroom, and on various field trips and activities. "Hanging out" at the school cuts down on the cost of paying aides to "hang out."

[Revanchist]

8. Kicking this because I suspect it's more of a race issue than a gun issue.

I don't think the white principle would of had such an issue with the mother if she wasn't African-American.

[ieoeja]

54. Racism *is* a gun issue.

White guy killed an intruder in a northern suburb of Chicago. He was labelled a hero by all the media. Wayne LittlePenis and company rushed to Illinois. The drums for liberalizing Illinois gun laws were beating loudly for two weeks.

Then a middle-class Black guy killed an intruder in Chicago. "Probably gang related," said the woman on the evening news. "Or drugs," echoed her co-anchor. But Wayne LittlePenis and company came charging to his defense.











Actually, that last sentence was a lie. The NRA packed their bags and left town. The drums stopped beating. And people gave up on changing the laws for a time.

The silver lining to this story is that, while the Black home owner was sentenced in the media, he was cleared by the police investigation. That said, around the same time the Chicago cops killed three different African-Americans on three separate occasions when they mistook cell phones for guns. How do you think cops are going to react when they really are carrying firearms?

Will Blacks receive equal treatment under the carry laws? I seriously doubt it. Every Black man with whom I've ever discussed gun laws wanted to carry guns legally. And every one of them voted anti-gun because they believed pro-gun laws will never apply to them fully. The only way they could receive equal treatment is if nobody gets to carry a gun legally.

[The Straight Story]

64. Indeed, guessing it was more racism than anything else (nt)

[Marrah_G]

10. If this woman was disrupting classes and making comments online,

and then posted her CCW, I can understand the concern.

What if she did use the gun? Then we would all be saying the signs of a problem were there and no one did anything.

[Glitterati]

15. Where did you see anything about "disrupting classes?"

There's absolutely nothing anywhere suggesting this.

[Marrah_G]

16. Reread the two articles.

There were issues weeks before she posted the picture. The principal asked her two weeks before not to come to the school so much.

[Lex]

26. Um, read.

"Principal Dallas says several PTO members pointed out instances where Mount would disrupt classes . . . "

[hack89]

35. Yet the teachers apparently had no issue with her.

Sounds like an uppity black women being put in her place by the pto.

[littlewolf]

14. Kicking it because it appears to be more to this story

then is being told.

[LWolf]

18. Parents have always been welcome in my classroom.

Not with guns, concealed or not, and not to take disciplining other people's children into their own hands.

As the teacher, it's my job to protect all of my students from situations like that. If one student is bullying another, we're going to deal with it. Probably not the way the other parent would like to see it, though.

Keep the guns off my campus and out of my classroom. Please.

[Glitterati]

20. I'm as anti-gun as anybody, but...

no one has alleged this woman brought a gun anywhere.

[LWolf]

21. No one?

Read the thread title.

[ScreamingMeemie]

22. The title says she posted a picture of her CCW permit on her facebook page...

not that she brought a gun to school.

That would have been like my husband being disallowed from attending the kindergarten picnic because he had a CCW, even though it wasn't on him.

I think that is what is at issue here.

[LWolf]

24. The title says

that the banning is about the permit.

The inference is that she was carrying concealed at school, or that the principal was "afraid" she would.

There is also an allegation of interference on her part while at school, which is probably what led to the concern.

Plenty of our rural population own guns, and I'm sure some of them have permits to carry concealed. We don't want them carrying at school. Plenty of my students have guns; one of them shot himself in the thigh while cleaning his guns this summer. I especially don't want to see him carrying concealed.

We DO require parents to go through a security check before they are allowed beyond the office while school is in session, unless accompanied by staff giving them a tour.

[ScreamingMeemie]

28. Inferring things is not a great thing to do.

It is alleged that she was interfering at school.
I am playing devil's advocate here, but many a time--as an active school parent--I have seen PTO members who are great and PTO members who are reliving their own high school memories. People who abuse the fake position and people who do good. I can see the other side of the coin: a mother advocating for her special needs child becomes an interference. A person with a beef scours her facebook page. While I think it's a stupid thing to do (posting a picture of a CCW), I can't say it should be something that should immediately ban someone from the school. We haven't heard the whole story yet, so I am saying that I will reserve judgement.

[LWolf]

31. Of course it is.

Inference is the foundation of comprehension. I spend my days teaching it.

Here's something else I know about comprehension: it depends on background experience. Readers, or listeners, bring their own background knowledge and experience to anything they read, or hear about. What they understand about it is built on that.

In this instance, some bring automatic distrust of schools, teachers, and school admins to the table. Some bring a more balanced experience; you presented that. Some, like I do, bring decades of on-the-spot experience.

My experience is pretty broad; 2 states, large districts and schools and small districts and schools. When it comes to special needs kids, I've seen a pretty wide range of attitudes and actions on both schools' and teachers' parts and parents. I've advised parents on how to advocate for their kids when the system isn't meeting their needs. I've also sat in on IEPs for students with legal advocates present who assumed their job was to be confrontational, because nobody would serve the student's needs otherwise. THAT is counterproductive, to say the least.

The allegations of class disruption should be taken seriously. A principal doing his job would be talking to the teacher/s of those classes, not taking the word of PTO members; and PTO members should not be "advising" the mother. That said, what gets said in the parking lot between parents is outside our control. The PTO provides valuable services, but they are not running the school.

Having been at school with students when news came through about Sandy Hook, having been at all those school meetings talking about safety and security, I don't think the concern was just about facebook or what the PTO said. I think it's a legitimate concern. That's MY background experience talking.

[ScreamingMeemie]

34. I never said they should be taken seriously.

What I am saying is that we are subjected to, here, a news story that is severely one-sided. I don't tend to jump to conclusions on these types of stories.

I don't need "background experience" to have that opinion. While it's a "legitimate concern," I'm waiting to see whether it's a "warranted concern."

Your entire post is inference based upon your experience. Which is great, but it means nothing with regard to this situation.

I would like to hear the other side of the story.

I cannot make a sweeping judgement that the principal took the right action without hearing both sides of the story and knowing what the alleged "interference" was.

That is all that I'm saying.

We can go back and forth, but you're not going to change my mind on wanting to hear the entire story before passing judgement.

As far as I can see, the only mistake that is proven is that it's stupid as hell to post one's CCW on their Facebook page.

[LWolf]

39. I don't want to change your mind.

I don't think you are understanding me. I don't have time to explain further, though, because I'm going to work.

[ScreamingMeemie]

40. I understand. We just see this differently.

[pintobean]

19. I thought only

bigoted white men carry concealed weapons. That's what I keep reading on DU - they're compensating for something or other.

[Lex]

23. So this woman has a history of disrupting classes & now has flaunted her conceal carry permit.

No wonder the school is nervous. I would be too.

[851-977]

32. she allegedly disrupted classes

allegedly. And if she did, we don't know why. Was someone bullying her daughter? What's the context?

[Lex]

43. she allegedly was banned from the school

if you want to play courtroom

[Niceguy1]

63. but not the new one

...big flags have been raised.

[Iggo]

30. Good.

[Fla Dem]

33. Very conflicted on this one. I hate the thought of a pistol packing mama on school property.

Particularly one who has had issues with the teachers and students. I thought all schools were gun free zones, whether you had a permit or not. But because she posted her permit on FB she is being targeted.

Do the school officials know whether or not other parents on school grounds have a CCW?

Did anyone do a search of county records to see whether other parents have CCW permits? And if so are they also banned from school property? If no, then she IS being single out.

Whether she is being singled out because she is Black, or because of other conflict issues with someone with influence in the school, there is not enough information to make that call.

[ScreamingMeemie]

37. A lot of schools run background checks on parent volunteers.

Last edited Tue Nov 5, 2013, 01:44 PM - Edit history (1)

I cannot see banning someone from the school for having a CCW (no off-duty cops would be able to participate).

I can see the school banning parents who have created massive disruption within the school (which is only alleged).
I can see the school banning parents for bringing the gun to school (which was not alleged).

[riderinthestorm]

48. I've volunteered at 4 schools in 2 different districts and never had a background check

In fact I've never heard of that at any school. Is that common in your area?

[ScreamingMeemie]

49. It was common in MI and it is common in TX.

Never volunteered where my background wasn't checked.

[ScreamingMeemie]

50. It's become the law in some states...

https://www.google.com/search?q=States+with+background+checks+for+school+volunteers&oq=States+with+background+checks+for+school+volunteers&aqs=chrome..69i57.11361j0j9&sourceid=chrome&espv=210&es_sm=93&ie=UTF-8

[riderinthestorm]

51. Ah. I'm in IL and its not done here. Did the school in the OP require them? nt

[ScreamingMeemie]

53. You could probably Google the school and find out. nt

[riderinthestorm]

59. I was just curious since your post seemed to infer that ALL schools required checks

that you mean that particular school required them too.

A very brief google search seems to indicate that this school does not require background checks. I've got limited time today though and didn't sift through all the links so don't take my answer as definitive.

[ScreamingMeemie]

62. I made an assumption based on my experiences

I would not be surprised if this school did background checks because I was rather shocked to hear that schools don't, to be honest.

[Blue_Adept]

61. Definitely becoming more common - and for sports

If you want to coach youth sports in MA for example, you need to have the background check done. Same with boy/cub scouts, etc. And naturally for schools as well.

[Xithras]

55. I have a CCW. Schools are gun-free zones.

I rarely carry anyway, but that's one thing that was hammered into us during the CCW class. Permit or not, if you carry onto a school campus, you are going to jail for a LONG time.

[Crunchy Frog]

38. If you don't want people to know that you're carrying (concealed)

then you probably shouldn't advertise it on Facebook.

If you don't understand why people are antsy about guns and schools, then you've been living in a cave, or are simply being willfully ignorant.

[lonestarnot]

42. Isn't the purpose of conceal carry secrecy? Why would someone publish their bullshit? Idjit

bullshit never ends.

[Lex]

44. Anyone who is safe with a gun doesn't advertise they have one

nor that they have a concealed carry permit. The very fact that they feel they need to show these things off speaks volumes.

[lonestarnot]

47. No shit. Idjit publication.

[The Straight Story]

45. Probably because

like the people I know they tell their friends they are in the course and when they have passed it. FB is pretty much telling your friends the same thing. Not like everyone is going to know everyone in the whole city who has one and remember their FB page (and I cannot imagine combing over millions of FB pages somewhere to see who did and didn't at some point in their timeline tell their friends they had finally passed and gotten their license).

[lonestarnot]

46. Still an idjit.

[gopiscrap]

56. she should be banned...guns have no business being on an educational campus.

[tammywammy]

57. No where does it say she took a gun on campus or planned to. n/t

[Vashta Nerada]

58. She has a history of disrupting classes + her kid is being "bullied" + she flaunted her permit.

Gee. I wonder why she was banned.

[kestrel91316]

60. She sounds like a nut and a troublemaker. I think the principal has done the right thing

by telling her to stay away.