CAMBRIDGE, Md.- He's a man with many names, and the books he has written have raised the concerns of the Dorchester County Board of Education and the Dorchester County Sheriff's Office.
Early last week the school board was alerted that one of its eighth grade language arts teachers at Mace's Lane Middle School had several aliases. Police said that under those names, he wrote two fictional books about the largest school shooting in the country's history set in the future. Now, Patrick McLaw is placed on leave.
Dr. K.S. Voltaer is better known by some in Dorchester County as Patrick McLaw, or even Patrick Beale. Not only was he a teacher at Mace's Lane Middle School in Cambridge, but according to Dorchester Sheriff James Phillips, McLaw is also the author of two books: "The Insurrectionist" and its sequel, "Lillith's Heir."
Those books are what caught the attention of police and school board officials in Dorchester County. "The Insurrectionist" is about two school shootings set in the future, the largest in the country's history.
Phillips said McLaw was taken in for an emergency medical evaluation. The sheriff would not disclose where McLaw is now, but he did say that he is not on the Eastern Shore. The same day that McLaw was taken in for an evaluation, police swept Mace's Lane Middle School for bombs and guns, coming up empty.
Dorchester County Superintendent of Schools Dr. Henry Wagner said the Dorchester County Board of Education has taken its own action.
"We have advised our community that the gentleman has been placed on administrative leave, and has been prohibited from entering any Dorchester County public school property," Wagner said.
The 23-year-old language arts teacher had already taught at the school for a year.
With school starting Tuesday, some parents tell WBOC they are concerned about safety, but both Wagner and Phillips said there is nothing to worry about.
"There will be a Cambridge Police Department presence at Mace's Lane middle school for as long as we deem it necessary," Wagner said.
"I think that the various police agencies that we have, working in conjunction with the board have a handle on the situation and I think we're going to have a safe and happy opening day of school tomorrow," Phillips said in an interview Monday with WBOC..
Phillips said law enforcement across Delmarva have been sent McLaw's photo and information. The sheriff said McLaw is banned from county properties in Dorchester and Wicomico counties, as well as the Delmar School District.
TL;DR version: A middle school teacher in Maryland wrote two science fiction novels in the same universe in which a mass school shooting was a central plot point. Parents and the school board freaked out like whoa. Not only was he placed on administrative leave, but the teacher was taken into custody for psychiatric observation. His house was searched. No guns or explosives were found.
This is horrifying. I'm not sure what else to say. People use literature to explore all sorts of disturbing themes, and writers will often use material that they're familiar with in order to add verisimilitude to their stories. The idea that people are now being judged on their fictional works, not in terms of whether or not they may have committed a crime (which can be legitimate), but rather whether or not they may commit a crime in the future. If this is upheld as reasonable by the courts, then it will undoubtedly have a chilling effect on free speech and creativity.
Writing a book about something doesn't mean you support everything that happens in it.
