By Patric Hedlund

Documents have been brought to The Mountain Enterprise about a gun threat at the El Tejon School by a young special education student who allegedly followed up on his vow to shoot a teacher’s aide by securing a gun and then burying it near his home in Frazier Park.

The incident took place in March of 2005, but the tragedy at Virginia Tech last week, in which 32 people were killed by a disturbed student, has caused school officials across the nation to re-examine their policies regarding early intervention and school safety policies.

The gun in the 2005 incident, documents say, was discovered by Kern County sheriff’s deputies during spring break, in the week after the threat was made.

The child is now 12 years old and still attending El Tejon School. Reportedly, he brought a knife to school in 2006, which was removed by Sgt. David Barker of the Frazier Park substation. Barker says that he remembers both incidents.

Barker was called to intervene in the 2006 knife incident. "I said, ‘do you have a knife? Let me have it,’" Barker recalled in an interview on April 24, this week. He had been alerted by another special education teacher’s aide. "It was not a switchblade or I would have arrested him for having an illegal weapon…But it is a violation of school rules to bring any knife to school…." Barker said he made a report of the incident and submitted it to the Kern County juvenile probation department.

The "special ed" teacher’s aide who was threatened with being shot has been diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) according to court documents. El Tejon Unified School District was ordered to pay medical expenses by Judge Terrence E. McEvoy, Workers’ Compensation Administrative Law Judge. ETUSD paid $10,311 on January 12, 2007.

In Judge McEvoy’s written findings to the case, he states that testimony by Principal Rochelle (Shelly) Mason indicates that she knew by March 30, 2005 that the student had obtained a gun but that she did not tell the aide about it.

The aide, Michelle Brezae of Lake of the Woods, has brought the legal file to our attention, she says, because "the shooting at Virginia Tech has brought all of it back to me, and I am concerned that the modus operendi of our adminstration may be to sweep these kind of events under the rug."

She speaks in a firm but soft voice, adding, "I love the children I worked with, including this one, but I believe he should be in a higher security educational environment."

The facts recited in the judge’s decision say that the student has behavioral problems and that he was placed in a special class by the school psychologist.

Brezae says she left the school district’s employment as a result of this event. She said she could not return after learning that the child actually had obtained possession of a gun. "Suddenly it all became very real," she said, "this was more than words; there was real danger." She said she feels there should be a policy in place to alert all personnel working with the child about facts regarding the child’s behavior that could have an impact on the safety of students, staff and the child himself.

Judge McEvoy’s decision states: "Applicant was found to be credible regarding the threat by a student to obtain a gun and shoot her. The facts also show that subsequent to making this threat, the student actually obtained a gun from his grandfather’s gun cabinet. That made the threat to actually shoot her even more credible."

Shelly Mason, principal of El Tejon School and newly appointed superintendent of ETUSD, has been asked to comment about the case, but was unable to comment by press time, pending advice of legal counsel, she said.

Mason did say however, "The one thing I do want to make clear is that no gun was ever present or found on our campus."

She also notes that the aide has "not been present in our workplace for more than two years."

Whether there have been policy and procedure changes regarding alerting staff to such issues has not yet been explained by the superintendent.

This is part of the April 27, 2007 online edition of The Mountain Enterprise.

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