Newtown, Connecticut: Parents’ fear v. Parents’ other fear

 With 28 people dead anyone with a heart could only feel and pray for the families of the children murdered. How do the parents send their children back to school? How do parents not fear what could happen, again? There is talk of armed guards in every school and additional gun control laws. But will any of that work? The schools will have to figure out how to protect the children. The schools will need a plan. They need a plan to make sure that there isn’t an over-reaction where they do more harm than good. If a situation arises where the school believes that a child could be a threat, how do they handle that belief? How strong does that belief need to be? Does any belief warrant having the child arrested and treated like a criminal – without the child having first done anything wrong – and involuntarily evaluated over the parents objections? How will something like that affect a child?

 Parents rightly fear that someone will try to hurt their children. How far will we go to allow the school to take away a child – and a parent’s rights – to evaluate any potential threat? That’s another parent fear. There is a balance to be found and it needs to be found promptly.

About Tim Leahy

Timothy P. Leahy, a partner at the firm, practices law in Maryland and the District of Columbia and is a member of the American, Maryland, D.C, and Prince George’s County Bar associations. He received his J.D., cum laude, from the University of Baltimore Law School in May 2000, earned his M.B.A. in 1993 at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business, and his B.S. in Transportation & Logistics at Maryland in 1990. Timothy brings over 10 years experience in business to his practice of the law and focuses on litigation and general practice matters. A former home improvement contractor and army reservist, he volunteers with Christmas in April and has coached for the Bowie Boys & Girls Club. He is a Board member of his homeowners association, pro bono counsel for Bowie CLAW, and a volunteer Mediator for the District Court of Maryland. Timothy moved to Bowie in 1982 and lives there with his wife of 24 years and two sons.
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