NEWPORT NEWS, Va. — Two Newport News Public Schools teachers are suing the school division for a combination of more than $4 million.
The teachers say that school division leaders failed to ensure their safety on the day of the Heritage High School shooting.
That September 2021 shooting was the first of a series of incidents that would follow in the next 18 months. Just a couple of months later in December, a Woodside High School student was shot and killed in the parking lot of Menchville High School during a basketball game.
Attorneys are representing Michelle Webb, a 12th-grade government teacher, and Leslie Turner, a student-teacher from Old Dominion University assigned to Heritage High School in 2021.
The named defendants in the civil cases are the principal of Heritage High School, the seven-member Newport News School Board, and former Superintendent Dr. George Parker III. The school board voted to fire Dr. Parker just a couple of weeks after the shooting at Richneck Elementary School in January 2023.
In the lawsuits, attorneys say both Webb and Turner experienced emotional and physical distress after then-15-year-old Jacari Taylor brought a handgun to school and shot two students in a busy hallway, hurting them.
Attorneys say Turner was preparing for the next class when she heard the fighting and then heard the first gunshot. They went on to say their client was "overcome with shock and suddenly feared that death was imminent."
Turner dropped to the floor of her classroom in a panic, sustaining physical injuries to her wrist and knees, the lawsuit states.
She then heard multiple gunshots ring out after that. The lawsuit states the sound of gunshots, "traumatizes and disables her to this day."
The attorneys say Webb and Turner lacked any knowledge of any safety plans or designated safety exits designed for these types of situations due to a lack of school response training for Heritage High School.
Webb, who attorneys say has a disability and felt immobilized after dropping to the floor, gave her keys to Turner to lock the classroom door while they urged the students in the class to get down on the ground.
The attorneys say the teachers were in a "vulnerable situation" that day, describing how they had to duck to the floor in their classroom when multiple gunshots rang out with no safe way to leave. They want on to say, "The Plaintiff knew that those in the room were merely 'sitting ducks.'"
Taylor had a prior malicious wounding conviction the month of March before the new school year. He was wearing an ankle monitor at the time he began the academic year at Heritage High School. The lawsuits state administrators should have considered other options for Taylor, including potentially putting him in an alternative educational program to prevent danger to students, faculty and staff at the high school.
"Rather, Defendants acted willfully and, wantonly, knowing that [Jacari Taylor] had a violent criminal history of malicious wounding involving the use of a firearm that stemmed from an incident related to Heritage High School in March 2021," the lawsuit stated.
The attorneys also wrote in the complaint that metal detectors were not being utilized properly at the time of the shooting.
They say school administrators had working metal detectors, but only used them randomly. They added, "Defendants removed the pre-existing metal detectors from entryways, placing them aside, and forewent any safety measure to detect or inspect weapons."
Leslie Turner is suing for approximately $2.6 million in damages and Michelle Webb is suing for approximately $1.7 million.
The lawsuits also state the physical and mental anguish these teachers still face to this day are not a result of their jobs and this scenario is not an expectation of working in the school division.
13News Now reached out to both Newport News Public Schools about these lawsuits. A spokeswoman for Newport News Public Schools said the school division has not been served with this lawsuit yet and cannot comment on legal actions.
Taylor pleaded guilty to the charges regarding the Heritage High School shooting. Taylor's sentence is "blended," meaning he'll spend the next five years in a Department of Juvenile Justice correctional center, and after he turns 21, will be transferred to an adult prison.
This isn't the only lawsuit the school division faces this year. Following the Richneck Elementary School shooting where police say a 6-year-old student shot his teacher, Abby Zwerner, in January, Zwerner's legal team filed a $40 million lawsuit.
Attorneys representing the school division filed a motion, arguing against Zwerner's lawsuit, saying her injuries are covered under worker's compensation, which Zwerner denied. Zwerner's attorneys argued that claim, saying getting shot on the job should not be an expectation of working in a classroom.
NNPS also received multiple claims of intent to sue from attorneys representing parents of the Richneck Elementary School students who were in the classroom at the time of the shooting.