In the wake of the latest rash of school shootings, as in all those which came before, rational minds question the general role of the public school system in preventing such attacks. Why didn’t the school do more to prevent this tragedy? If this keeps happening, could it be the fault of the school system?

While it is unknown whether the student perpetrators in these massacres were identified as special education students in need of emotional support, public school districts are constrained to abide by federal and state laws limiting their authority to discipline and place students in schools outside the district where they might receive needed therapeutic support.