> I guess by now you all have seen on CNN, or elsewhere, about the 13 year old boy who shot some kids at the Fort Gibson Middle School. Fort Gibson is less than 20 minutes from my house. This is a little too close to home for me. I have 2 kids in school and I don't even want to think of it happening to them. Talk about a shock to hear. Fort Gibson is a very small town, with a population of less than 10,000. If it can happen there, I guess it truly *can* happen anywhere.
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> Drac "Still a bit shocked by the news" imas

Guess why I retired at 58? Well, there were several reasons, but one of them was a .22 cal pistol found in a locker just outside my classroom door. The kid was tired of going to school and he had heard that if you brought a gun to school, you could get kicked out. No threats, no ammunition, he just stashed it and then went around bragging about the gun in his locker. It worked.
Other reasons for my retirement included burnout, a problem that teachers experience late in their carreers. It has been compared to battle fatigue, a condition suffered by soldiers. It is one step before stark ravin' crazy. Another reason was what they call "retirement incentives." It's a bribe paid by school boards who figure they can save money by getting rid of teachers at the top of the pay scale and replacing them with BS, no experience teachers. I took the cash, but the main reason remains: That pistol.
I wonder how many teachers at Ft.Gibson are on the verge of burnout?
Howard