A seventh-grade student is in custody after a teacher was stabbed at Jonesville Middle School in southwest Virginia on Thursday morning, according to authorities.
Lee County Sheriff Gary Parsons told News 5 that the student used what is believed to be a cutlery knife, possibly taken from the school kitchen, to stab the teacher during class.
The teacher received serious injuries but it doesn't appear to be life-threatening, the sheriff said. Some of the wounds will require stitches.
Parsons credited several students with subduing the accused attacker before the situation got worse. The sheriff's office said it is working with the Commonwealth's Attorney to determine charges. Authorities have not named the student, who is a minor.
Jonesville Middle School is a small school in Jonesville, the seat of Lee County in the far southwest corner of Virginia, near the Tennessee and Kentucky lines. It enrolls about 231 students across grades five through seven and is part of Lee County Public Schools, according to federal data.
The stabbing is the kind of incident that has pushed districts across the country to rethink what students can carry and reach during the school day, from the everyday objects that can become weapons to the tools kept in kitchens and shops. A Kentucky district recently went as far as banning metal water bottles after students swung them at each other.
The investigation is ongoing. This is a developing story.
Sources
WCYB News 5: Jonesville Middle School student accused of stabbing teacher
Account of the incident from the Lee County, Virginia, Sheriff's Office as reported by WCYB. School enrollment and grade figures from allk12's analysis of National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) data, 2024-25.
