Last week, a 5th grader in a New Mexico school was injured while on the playground, gashing her face and suffered two loosened permanent teeth. While that is upsetting, the teacher's reaction, at least according to the parents of the child, is troubling: the teacher refused to attend to the child due to differences she had with the child's parents.

Quite frankly, I don't care what the politics of the situation are; we entrust teachers with the lives and well-being of our children for the entire time that the children are under their supervision and care. Such a deliberate dereliction of duty - if true - is grounds for immediate dismissal, if for no other reason than she allowed a child under her care to sit bleeding and in pain in her classroom - and risking further infection or aggravation of the injury.

The mere fact that such an allegation can be leveled against a school is disturbing, for it charges the school with actions that transend school negligence, and extend into the realm of gross neglect.