Orlando killer Omar Mateen had a long history of academic and disciplinary issues during his school years, according to a report in the New York Daily News.
Elementary and middle school records show Mateen “was disciplined 31 times between 1992 and 1999” for “disrespectful and sometimes violent behavior.”
About halfway through his elementary years, Mateen began to exhibit violence towards his classmates — both physical and verbal. The verbal abuse applied to his teachers, as well. In addition, his grades continued to plummet throughout the early grades.
In fourth grade, a team comprised of a teacher, guidance counselor, school psychologist, and one of Mateen’s parents got together “to discuss his continued striking attacks on other students and his habit of screaming at his teachers.”
By middle school, Mateen’s performance in core academic courses remained well below par.
“Omar needs to apply himself,” his fifth-grade teacher wrote in a progress report. “He is capable if he could just stay focused more than 5 minutes.”
English classes continued to be a struggle, his teachers said.
“Omar does not suffer from an obvious language deficit,” a teacher wrote in a 1999 report after the school organized a “Limited English Proficient” committee meeting for the failing student. “Rather it appears to be language interference in combination with a lack of motivation to perform academic work.”
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Mateen withdrew from the St. Lucie County middle school in 1999, his eighth grade year, and transferred to the Martin County School District.
The killer eventually earned an applied science degree in criminal justice technology from Indian River State College in 2006, school officials said — but he was rejected from an intensive campus criminal program years later.
In spring 2015, Mateen attempted to enroll in the college’s “Academy Track,” which prepares students work as law enforcement officials through a six-month hands-on study. Several current students and teachers told NBC News that his application had been rejected, but did not say why.
Ironically, the Obama administration has led the way on pressuring colleges and government employers to not inquire about applicants’ previous involvement with school disciplinarians and law enforcement.
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