Student’s comic strip depicted teacher’s death

Monday, Jan. 31, 2005 | 11:02 a.m.

A Centennial High School student who created a comic strip depicting the violent death of one of his teachers is facing expulsion for the drawings.

The teacher, who asked that her name be withheld, said she was surprised expulsion had not been immediately recommended after she turned in his drawings to the campus dean earlier this month. Instead the student was referred to Peterson Academic Center, an alternative program for chronic truants and students with behavioral issues.

Edward Goldman, deputy superintendent of alternative education services for the Clark County School District, said he was aware of the situation and would be investigating whether the proper disciplinary procedure had been followed.

During a class period Jan. 6, the teacher noticed students passing around two pages of drawings. She took the pages and was stunned to see a three-panel comic strip, drawn on lined notebook paper, with herself as the villain.

In the first panel the teacher, with her name written overhead, is shown giving a Nazi salute with the words "Heil Hitler" coming out of her mouth. In the next frames a person with a bag over his or her head yells a profanity and shoots the teacher.

Students pictured in the cartoon drawing cheer and ask, "What are we going to do with the body?" Another student replies, "Who cares no one knows about it but us."

The cartoon goes on to show the students attempting to cover up the death before the school's principal and security officer arrive for a classroom visit. Several of the crudely drawn panels show the teacher prone on the floor, with blood spilling from her head.

"I was frightened and upset," the teacher said. "I couldn't understand why anyone would draw something like this."

The teacher said she gave the drawings to the school's dean and the student did not return to her classroom. She later received a letter of apology from the student, who wrote that he "only drew it as a joke and never meant for it to be a threat."

In his letter the student said drawing cartoons is one of his hobbies and "I admit that I did get carried away ... I hope that this shows to you that I did not mean to threaten you in any way and it was seriously meant as a joke."

The letter did little to ease her fears, the teacher said.

"There are things you don't joke about and this is one of them," she said.

The teacher said she plans to stay at Centennial.

"I have classes that are going in the right direction and I want them to see that people follow through," she said.

The teacher, who spent more than 30 years working full time in Northern Nevada schools before moving to Las Vegas, had expected that the student would be immediately expelled.

Centennial Principal Gerald Valasquez declined to discuss the situation, citing student and employee confidentiality. Valasquez said he was aware of the district's disciplinary regulations.

Goldman said the student has been withdrawn from Centennial and is not enrolled in any other district school. While he couldn't comment specifically about the student or the action taken by Centennial officials, Goldman said the district's regulations are clear.

"When a student makes a threat against a teacher the regulations require an automatic recommendation for expulsion," Goldman said. "If we become aware of a situation where that procedure was not followed, we will discuss it with the school site staff and move ahead with the appropriate process."

If a student leaves the district or is withdrawn to attend a private school, the expulsion process still goes forward, Goldman said.

"You can't run away or quit school to escape punishment," Goldman said. "We have a responsibility to follow through so that a student's records accurately reflect what transpired."

Following a rash of school shootings in the late 1990s, school districts nationwide have become more sensitive to perceived threats of violence and many, including Clark County, have developed "zero tolerance" policies.

In Oscala, Fla., last week two elementary school students, ages 9 and 10, were arrested and charged with a felony after the boys drew stick-figure pictures showing one of their classmates being stabbed and hung.