Benjamin Terrill was hired for a teaching position by the Akron City School District in 1996. Since that time, it has been discovered that he not only lied on his job application about his criminal past, military, and job experience, but that in 1999, he also threatened to shoot a special education student for making too much noise. That was NINE years ago. I have serious concerns about a school district that allows a teacher to continue teaching after a threat like that. If the situation were reversed and a student threatened a teacher, you can bet that student would be immediately expelled.
Obviously, I also question why the school district did not perform a background check on Terrill before he was hired or even after the threat was made against that student. I am anxiously awaiting the school district’s statement regarding the hiring and retention of this teacher.
WKYC Exclusive: Teacher who posed as combat veteran threatened to shoot special ed student
Eric Mansfield, WKYC.com – September 30, 2008
AKRON — An Akron teacher who masqueraded as a combat veteran once threatened to bring a shotgun to school and shoot a special education student who was making too much noise, according to his teaching file.
Benjamin Terril has been suspended from the Akron Public Schools following his arrest on Sept. 1.
Akron Police found dozens of weapons, some believed to be illegal, along with hand grenades and drugs inside Terril’s home, police said.
Channel 3’s Eric Mansfield checked Terril’s teaching file, which included Terril’s claims that he served in the Army’s elite 82nd Airborne Division and was wounded during Desert Storm. A formal request for Terril’s military file resulted in the government denying that Terril ever served a day in uniform. Terril had no comment when asked about the phony claims of military service.
Also in Terril’s file was a reprimand he received in 1999 for threatening to bring a shotgun to Buchtel High School to shoot a special education student who was making too much noise.
