School Recommended Leave After Violent Behavior
Belief That "School Is Safe" Shattered
"How Can We Trust and Entrust Our Children in the Future?"
An incident occurred at an elementary school in Seo-gu, Daejeon, where a first-grade student died after being attacked with a weapon wielded by a teacher, increasing anxiety among students and parents ahead of the new school term. The shock is immense because the perpetrator was a teacher responsible for student safety in the classroom, which should be the safest place.
According to explanations from the education authorities and fire department on the 11th, the school had resumed classes last week after the winter vacation and was proceeding with the remaining academic schedule until the spring break starting on the 14th. Children who needed care after regular school hours stayed in the second-floor care classroom. The victim, Ms. A, also stayed in the care classroom until 4:20 p.m. after class, then went downstairs to catch the academy bus around 4:30 p.m. after receiving a notification that the bus had arrived on the first floor.
However, Ms. A did not arrive at the academy as scheduled the previous day, and her parents filed a missing person report around 5:20 p.m. after being contacted by the academy. The school reported to the police around 5:50 p.m. that someone was trapped in the audiovisual room on the second floor. Ms. A was found collapsed in the school audiovisual room with a female teacher in her 40s, Ms. B. The teacher had injuries to her neck and wrist but was conscious, while Ms. A was already unconscious. Ms. B confessed to the act. She is the second-grade homeroom teacher at the school and had returned to work at the end of last year after a leave of absence due to depression and other issues.
Mr. Yoon (42), who has two elementary school children, said, "As a parent raising children of similar age, I am at a loss for words," adding, "The bereaved family said they heard some sounds from the scene through an application (app), so I installed the app myself." The app allows users to listen to surrounding sounds when they cannot contact their child to check if the child might be exposed to a dangerous environment. Although it is a paid app with an annual subscription fee of over 20,000 KRW, it has been downloaded more than 50 million times.
The first person to discover teacher Ms. B in the school audiovisual room was Ms. A’s maternal grandmother. After hearing that her granddaughter had not arrived at the academy, she went to the school with the police to look for her and found Ms. B there. The audiovisual room is next to the care classroom, and Ms. B’s head was near the granddaughter’s bag. The grandmother sensed that something was seriously wrong upon seeing this. Mr. Heo (66), who is raising his grandchild in Seo-gu, Daejeon, said, "When I heard that my granddaughter was missing, I immediately ran to the school and talked to my son, who was updating me on my granddaughter’s condition in real time. Hearing the grandmother’s story makes it feel personal. I feel deeply saddened by the bereaved family’s broken hearts." He added, "We naturally believe that schools are safe and entrust our children to them, but if we can’t trust schools, where else can we trust to leave our children?"
The family of Ms. A is raising concerns with the school, asking, "If the child’s screams were heard, what was the care teacher next door doing?" The day before, Ms. A’s father told reporters, "That is the part I cannot understand the most," and said, "I want to hold the school strongly accountable."
Previously, teacher Ms. B had shown violent behavior, such as twisting a colleague teacher’s arm on the 6th, and the school reportedly recommended she take a leave of absence afterward. The school also conveyed to the Daejeon Metropolitan Office of Education that measures were needed regarding this issue, but the office reportedly responded that additional leave was not possible due to the same medical history.
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