Metro Atlanta Students Save Teacher's Life

[Ben E Lou]

I don't know if this will be a national story or not, but it is pretty cool. Happened yesterday in GrantDawg and KWhit's neck of the woods.

http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/met...8heritage.html

Students subdue teacher's attacker
Heritage High teens disarm man with knife

By DONNA WILLIAMS LEWIS
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

"Without them I wouldn't be alive," teacher Debbie Shultz said of her students.

Debbie Shultz's class had just finished a Spanish II final
exam Wednesday morning when the door to their trailer burst open with a bang.

Shultz's estranged husband stood wild-eyed in the doorway, teeth gritted, pausing almost for dramatic effect, she recalled. Then he rushed toward her, she said, raising a large knife toward her chest.

That's when Shultz's students, 16- and 17-year-old kids, went to her rescue. Several of the youngsters tackled the man, pinning him to the floor and wresting the knife from his hand.

"Those kids are my heroes. I believe God used them to save my life," Shultz, 46, said Wednesday evening, recuperating at home with stitches in her hand and leg where her assailant slashed her with the knife.

"I'm sorry that they were called upon to do such a huge job so early in their lives, but without them I wouldn't be alive."

The scene Wednesday at Rockdale County's Heritage High School, with news trucks and helicopters circling the campus, was an eerie reminder of spring 1999, when a 15-year-old boy opened fire at the school, shooting six students before surrendering to an assistant principal.

Shultz was there then. She remembers running across T.J. Solomon's line of fire to warn members of the Fellowship of Christian Youth, meeting nearby, not to leave their classroom.

But school and law enforcement officials emphasized that Wednesday's attack grew out of a domestic dispute and no students were in immediate danger.

Theodore Franklin Shultz, 51, of Conyers is being held in the Rockdale County Jail on charges of aggravated assault, aggravated stalking, cruelty to children, disrupting a school and carrying a weapon on school property.

Debbie Shultz said she is in the final stages of divorcing her husband of seven years and had a restraining order against him. She said her husband had been released Monday from a mental institution that failed to notify her.

A couple of weeks earlier, police were called to a Conyers Wal-Mart after Theodore Shultz grabbed an unloaded shotgun off a shelf and brandished it.

Class reacted quickly

Heritage High Principal Greg Fowler praised the students who went to Debbie Shultz's aid.

"They love Ms. Shultz," Fowler said. "When a teacher has a relationship with the students, this is the payoff."

Nimesh Patel, 17, was taking a nap after finishing his final when he heard screaming and the scampering of fleeing students. He saw his teacher trying to fend off her assailant.

"I froze there for a second. Me and a couple of other guys grabbed him and threw him to the ground and basically sat on him until the cops came," he said.

Several other students helped Patel subdue the attacker. They included Austin Hutchinson, 16; John Bailey, 16; Andy Anderson, 17; Matt Battaglia, 17; and Scott Wigington, 17.

As Hutchinson saw the man pull the knife, "I thought I could run like the rest of the people or I could help," the student said. "It's just not right leaving her there."

Hutchinson and Wigington, son of Rockdale County Sheriff Jeff Wigington, were the first to reach the assailant. Wigington grabbed the hand holding the knife.

The others helped push the man to the ground, at which point Wigington took the knife away from him. The six boys then kept him pinned to the ground.

Patel said Debbie Shultz, who helped pin the man down, didn't want to leave the room.

"She was scared he would hurt us. We told her to get out," said Patel. "She was more worried about us than herself."

Back in school today?

After the assailant was taken into custody, the students were provided counseling and allowed to go home if they wanted. Patel remained in school to take his chemistry and history finals.

Shultz hugged her sobbing students as she was taken away, letting them know she was OK.

She said she plans to return to her classroom today -- after she goes by the courthouse to sign final papers for her divorce.

"I'm definitely going to school tomorrow, to thank my kids for being heroes, to let them know I'm OK and that bad things happen to good people."

Staff writers Jen Sansbury and Ben Smith contributed to this article.

Now, shouldn't at least one of the kids be expelled for violating the "zero-tolerance" policy??? I mean, he had a knife in his possession at school, didn't he?

[Huckleberry]

Debbie Shultz's class had just finished a Spanish II final
exam Wednesday morning when the door to their trailer burst open with a bang.

Nice story. It's funny that the papers just come right out and call it a trailer. Is this what's called a "portable" in Texas?

[rkmsuf]

at least they didn't call it a portable trailer...

[Ben E Lou]

Originally posted by Huckleberry
Nice story. It's funny that the papers just come right out and call it a trailer. Is this what's called a "portable" in Texas?

I'd imagine so. They have some "official" PC name in Georgia too that only the system folks use. (I can't recall it off the top of my head, but it may be "portable classroom.")

[Radii]

We had a bunch of Trailers in my middle school and high school in the Raleigh area in the mid-90s.. it was just a fact of life w/ the area growing so much and a lack of schools to support all the new people, I'd never thought of it as a derogatory term at all when used in the school sense.

[JonInMiddleGA]

FWIW, I've seen "portable classroom" and "modular classroom" both used as euhphemisms for "trailer".

[Butter]

"They love Ms. Shultz," Fowler said. "When a teacher has a relationship with the students, this is the payoff."

So, they'd probably just watch a teacher they didn't like get stabbed to death?

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally posted by Butter_of_69
So, they'd probably just watch a teacher they didn't like get stabbed to death?

I'd imagine that depends upon how much they didn't like her.

[Alan T]

We always called them trailers in Cobb County when I was in school... Was just a fact of life.. The school district was growing faster than they could build new schools and they had to put the kids somewhere.. Added 4 new highschools in a small area totaling about 12,000 kids in a period of about 9 years.

Why do other places not call them trailers? Is it a negative conotation due to what people perceive those that live in trailers? Or what?

Most often the trailers in Cobb county were brand new , and were nicer than the actual classrooms, so most people didnt mind having classes in them.

[rkmsuf]

Originally posted by Alan T


Why do other places not call them trailers? Is it a negative conotation due to what people perceive those that live in trailers? Or what?

That would be about right.

Sattelite classroom is a more neutral terminolgy.

[Ben E Lou]

Originally posted by Alan T
We always called them trailers in Cobb County when I was in school...

Yeah. I think pretty much everyone calls them trailers except for a handful of "system people."

[Calis]

Sheesh, shows how sheltered my life has been..never knew that people going to class in trailers was such a common occurence. Never heard of it happening actually.

Of course, I grew up in a very small town, and never dealt with a population boom.

[Ben E Lou]

Originally posted by Calis
Sheesh, shows how sheltered my life has been..never knew that people going to class in trailers was such a common occurence. Never heard of it happening actually.

Of course, I grew up in a very small town, and never dealt with a population boom.

There are probably 10-15 trailers outside of both Tucker and Lakeside High Schools, the two that I deal with the most. They are building a NEW Middle School to help alleviate the overcrowding at Henderson Middle School (the one Middle School I deal with), but there will still be 5-10 trailers there next year, after the new school opens.

[Franklinnoble]

See, that's the problem with installing metal detectors at the schools these days.

If those kids had been allowed to bring their 9mm's to class, that guy would have been capped right at the door.

[Sidhe]

As a former teacher I was very impressed by these students.

It restores a bit of faith that there's a little good in humanity, don't it?

I think my kids would have been too busy chatting to notice until I was good and dead..

[corbes]

Um, I work in a "modular classroom", thank you very much

Suggesting otherwise would be unfair to people who do not work in permanent structures.

[GrantDawg]

My next door neighbor is a Spanish teacher at Heritage. We were freaking out when we heard this until the name was released last night. I was pretty sure it wasn't her (she has a green card marriage. I doubted she would be in the middle of a divorce especially since I just saw them both together a couple of days ago walking down the street holding hands).

Still, that hit pretty close to home literally.

[GrantDawg]

Dola: Heritage is so rich they have two Spanish teachers. This is the same school where the little rich kids were passing syphillis like gum. I wonder if it isn't time to redistrict.

[KWhit]

Originally posted by GrantDawg
Dola: Heritage is so rich they have two Spanish teachers. This is the same school where the little rich kids were passing syphillis like gum. I wonder if it isn't time to redistrict.

I graduated from Heritage.

This is the same school where there was a school shooting 3-4 years ago.

Some crazy shit has been going on since I left.

[GrantDawg]

Originally posted by KWhit
I graduated from Heritage.

This is the same school where there was a school shooting 3-4 years ago.

Some crazy shit has been going on since I left.

They miss you.

[Ksyrup]

Originally posted by Butter_of_69
So, they'd probably just watch a teacher they didn't like get stabbed to death?

I had the same thought. While I certainly commend the students for their actions, the fact that they liked their teacher was probably not the main reason they came to her defense.

[judicial clerk]

Does anybody remember the Adam Sandler CD with the Spanish teacher "Oh, Bibliotecha!"

I am going to go out on a limb and guess that those kids are going to get a pretty good grade in this class. Saving your teacher from her crazy, knife wielding, ex-husband is probably worth a couple of extra-credit points.

[GrantDawg]

Originally posted by judicial clerk
Does anybody remember the Adam Sandler CD with the Spanish teacher "Oh, Bibliotecha!"

I am going to go out on a limb and guess that those kids are going to get a pretty good grade in this class. Saving your teacher from her crazy, knife wielding, ex-husband is probably worth a couple of extra-credit points.

Not if you can't conjugate.

[BigJohn&TheLions]

I'm waiting for the Scooby Doo ending...

"AND I WOULD HAVE GOTTEN AWAY WITH IT TOO, IF IT WASN'T FOR YOU MEDLING KIDS!!!"

[judicial clerk]

Did you ever think that maybe the kids paid the ex-husband to do this just so that they could get out of taking thier final?

[Philliesfan980]

Nimesh Patel, 17, was taking a nap after finishing his final when he heard screaming and the scampering of fleeing students. He saw his teacher trying to fend off her assailant.

Since when are students allowed to sleep in class?

[ctmason]

Good to see my alma mater in the news again, and at least this time no one got hurt.

Edit: KWhit, I'm class of 96, guessing we missed each other, but you probably know my little cousins.

[Gambit]

Originally posted by Philliesfan980
Since when are students allowed to sleep in class?

Yeah! My teachers would have tossed something at me if I fell asleep in class

Anyway, good on the kids for helping out.

[Celeval]

Originally posted by Philliesfan980
Since when are students allowed to sleep in class?

If it was during finals - we were able to doze off. Finished the test, turned it in, basically nothing else we 'could' do.

Kevin

[Ben E Lou]

Originally posted by Celeval
If it was during finals - we were able to doze off. Finished the test, turned it in, basically nothing else we 'could' do.

Kevin

Yeah. I just got back from breakfast with some kids. (They are in finals now in DeKalb County.) They have a two-hour time block for their final. If they finish early, they're not allowed to leave the room, and they're not allowed to bring anything in the room except a pencil or pen, so sleep is pretty much all they can do in the Government Schools. The Private Schools allow them to leave early.

[sooner333]

We called the portables or trailers "prefabs" back at my school. We had four or six, I can't remember exactly, but they are at a ton of schools these days.

[Gallifrey]

Wow. I remember when that high school first opened. Strange to read about all the crazy things going on there.

[Sun Tzu]

"Those kids are my heroes. I believe God used them to save my life," Shultz, 46, said Wednesday evening, recuperating at home with stitches in her hand and leg where her assailant slashed her with the knife.

These kids just saved her life, and now she is (unintentionaly of course) taking all of the credit away from them and giving it to her God. Not trying to stir up any contreversy here, but this doesn't make much sense to me. Perhaps it was just a poor choice of words. Maybe saying "I would like to thank God for giving me life, and I would like to thank the children for saving me so that I may continue to live" would have been more appropriate.

On the plus side, at least she didn't give any of the credit to Michael Vick.

[KWhit]

Originally posted by ctmason
Good to see my alma mater in the news again, and at least this time no one got hurt.

Edit: KWhit, I'm class of 96, guessing we missed each other, but you probably know my little cousins.

That's totally weird that there is another member of this board that went to Heritage.

But what makes you think I would know your little cousins? Do I come across as that immature?

I graduated class of 1990.

[ctmason]

Oh...heh. Not sure why I thought you were younger than me. I guess I got caught up with the 3-4 years ago thing, for whatever reason.

Well, you might know my older brother, then...but it's doubtful, he was class of 1992.

Nice to meet another Patriot, any day. And would you believe that about 80-90% of the people I've spoken to at work here in Phoenix have seen "The Lost Children of Rockdale County?"

[judicial clerk]

Maybe if this kid is bad-ass enough to take down a knife-wielding psychopath, he gets to sleep in class anytime he wants. I mean, maybe he wasn't trying to save the teacher at all. maybe he was just pissed because someone woke him up from his nap. I can just see the class whispering their spanish lessons because noone wants to disturb big Johnny's (picture Mark Gastineau or Dexter Manley) 2:30 nap.

[KWhit]

Originally posted by ctmason
Oh...heh. Not sure why I thought you were younger than me. I guess I got caught up with the 3-4 years ago thing, for whatever reason.

Well, you might know my older brother, then...but it's doubtful, he was class of 1992.

Nice to meet another Patriot, any day. And would you believe that about 80-90% of the people I've spoken to at work here in Phoenix have seen "The Lost Children of Rockdale County?"

What's strange is that I never saw that. I was living in New York at the time and just heard about it.

[CAsterling]

Originally posted by Franklinnoble
See, that's the problem with installing metal detectors at the schools these days.

If those kids had been allowed to bring their 9mm's to class, that guy would have been capped right at the door.

LOL