Connecticut Teacher Threatens To Shoot Principal, Gets Arrested: Report

[Correction: A previous version of this article misidentified the school in the caption of the main picture.]

An incensed Connecticut teacher, who threatened to have the school’s principal shot, was charged Monday with second-degree threatening and breach of peace, Connecticut Post reported.

A media specialist teacher at James J. Curiale School, Sandra Aldave, 51, from Shelton, Connecticut, was angered when she was assigned to cover someone else’s class. Seemingly vexed by the request, Aldave threatened to get a gun and have someone shoot the principal. When another teacher suggested that she had made the statement in jest, Aldave assured her that she was completely serious.

Police said Aldave was suspended from her job last month, after the statement made by her was reported to the police.

Police said after she was asked to sit in for another class by the principal, Aldave told the other faculty members, “For $5,000 I could get a gun and someone to take care of this, No, for only $3,000 I know someone with a gun.”

The statement, which otherwise might have been amusing, is significant as it comes in the wake of the parkland shooting in Florida that claimed 17 lives.

The nation is on the edge after several school shootings were reported this year, propelling the country to a gun debate. Several companies have cut their relationship with the National Rifles Association, with companies like Walmart and Dicks ceasing the sale of assault weapon AR-15, which was used in the shooting in Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, in February. In addition, they also raised the age bar to 21 to legally possess a weapon.

The arrest of the teacher comes on the heels of President Donald Trump retreating to raise the age limit to buy weapons in the United States. Instead, Trump suggested arming the teachers to raise security so that schools will be able to better defend themselves against threats.

However, critics said the president was caving to the NRA and said if Trump’s plan to arm every teacher in the U.S. goes through, it could only boost the sales of assault weapons as there are hundreds of thousands of teachers currently employed in public and private schools in the nation.

Trump backed off from the initial promise to raise the age limit when he met with six students and families from the Florida high school in the White House last month. Keeping with (his) tradition, Trump posted a tweet Monday stating there wasn’t enough "political support" to go through with raising the age limit. Following several meetings with the NRA officials at the White House in recent weeks, Trump administration proposed to arm teachers in schools Sunday night.

According to a report in CNN, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos proposed providing some school personnel with "rigorous" firearms training.

In a statement Sunday, she said, "Today we are announcing meaningful actions, steps that can be taken right away to help protect students. Far too often the focus has been only on the most contentious fights — the things that have divided people and sent them into their entrenched corners."

She continued, "But the plan that we're going to advance and talk about is a pragmatic plan to dramatically increase school safety and to take steps to do so right away."

The teacher arrested in Connecticut was not available for comment, Connecticut Post reported.