# Student finds teacher hanging in classroom. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 2, 2015, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/student-finds-teacher-hanging-in-classroom/714045 "2015-03-02T21:29:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2015, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/student-finds-teacher-hanging-in-classroom/714045/1 "2015-03-02T21:29:59Z")
Placenta CA where life begins and ends. :rolleyes: WTH did this person off herself in school? I feel bad for the kids that found her. I’ve heard Hanging corpses can be particularly hideous. > **[Students find teacher hanging in Calif. classroom](https://abc7chicago.com/placentia-teacher-suicide-found-dead-el-dorado-high-school/540658/)** > > Placentia, Calif., police have responded to El Dorado High School after students found a teacher hanging in a classroom. > [@](#): > > PLACENTIA, Calif. – > Placentia, Calif., police have responded to El Dorado High School after students found a teacher hanging in a classroom. > > The unidentified teacher was found dead around 8:30 a.m. Monday. > **[Students find teacher Jillian Jacobson hanged in classroom: 'RIP Mrs jacobson'](https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-teacher-dead-at-el-dorado-high-school-20150302-story.html)** > > A popular 31-year-old photography teacher was found hanging inside an Orange County high school classroom by students as they arrived to school on Monday, police said. > [@](#): > > A popular 31-year-old photography teacher was found hanging inside an Orange County high school classroom by students as they arrived to school on Monday, police said. > > The woman, identified by police as Jillian Jacobson, was found hanging from the ceiling at El Dorado High School in Placentia. > > “The preliminary investigation indicates it was a suicide,” said Placentia police Lt. Eric Point. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2015, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/student-finds-teacher-hanging-in-classroom/714045/2 "2015-03-02T21:42:58Z")
So she was found in Placenta with the cord wrapped around her neck? ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2015, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/student-finds-teacher-hanging-in-classroom/714045/3 "2015-03-02T21:45:49Z")
LOL I had exactly the same thought. It’s terrible but true. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2015, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/student-finds-teacher-hanging-in-classroom/714045/4 "2015-03-02T21:49:26Z")
Placenta, CA? Also, my favorite teacher ever killed himself at school, but he did it during a break so there weren’t many/any students around. IIRC a custodian found him. ---
**Author:** ![Suburban\_Plankton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suburban_plankton/32/219_2.png) [@Suburban\_Plankton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suburban_Plankton)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2015, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/student-finds-teacher-hanging-in-classroom/714045/5 "2015-03-02T22:29:42Z")
For the sake of fighting ignorance, but at the risk of ruining the joke, the name of the city is Placentia: note the ‘i’. ---
**Author:** ![PunditLisa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/4af34b/32.png) [@PunditLisa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PunditLisa)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2015, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/student-finds-teacher-hanging-in-classroom/714045/6 "2015-03-02T22:45:45Z")
One of my dad’s best friend’s committed suicide. My dad, who had taken care of him for the better part of a year, found him. He’d shot himself. I often wonder why his friend didn’t call 911 prior to offing himself. It sure would have saved my dad the trauma of finding him with his face blown off. And he’s a grown adult. It really sucks that a teacher would traumatize her students like that. P.S. One of the ONLY things in OJ Simpson’s favor was the fact that his ex-wife’s corpse was left where his kids could find it. Killing your ex-wife in a fit of jealous rage is bad enough. Allowing your kids to find her bloody and dead body? There’s another dimension of hell for someone who’d do that. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2015, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/student-finds-teacher-hanging-in-classroom/714045/7 "2015-03-02T22:51:32Z")
I read a news story one time about some young elementary students who went to the principal because their elderly (nun) teacher put her head down on the desk to take a nap and didn’t wake up. ---
**Author:** ![Honey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honey/32/5074_2.png) [@Honey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Honey)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2015, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/student-finds-teacher-hanging-in-classroom/714045/8 "2015-03-02T22:56:10Z")
> [@PunditLisa](#): > > One of my dad’s best friend’s committed suicide. My dad, who had taken care of him for the better part of a year, found him. He’d shot himself. > > I often wonder why his friend didn’t call 911 prior to offing himself. It sure would have saved my dad the trauma of finding him with his face blown off. And he’s a grown adult. It really sucks that a teacher would traumatize her students like that. > > P.S. One of the ONLY things in OJ Simpson’s favor was the fact that his ex-wife’s corpse was left where his kids could find it. Killing your ex-wife in a fit of jealous rage is bad enough. Allowing your kids to find her bloody and dead body? There’s another dimension of hell for someone who’d do that. You meant “where his kids could _not_ find it”, right? ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2015, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/student-finds-teacher-hanging-in-classroom/714045/9 "2015-03-02T23:02:11Z")
> [@Honey](#): > > You meant “where his kids could _not_ find it”, right? By “thing in OJ’s favor” I interpreted **PunditLisa** to mean “argument for why he wasn’t the killer”: if he had been, he (one hopes!) wouldn’t have left the corpse for his kids to find. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2015, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/student-finds-teacher-hanging-in-classroom/714045/10 "2015-03-03T00:40:38Z")
> [@Suburban\_Plankton](#): > > For the sake of fighting ignorance, but at the risk of ruining the joke, the name of the city is Placentia: note the ‘i’. I went for the joke. Although, I did a double take when I first saw the city’s name. Then I looked closer and saw the “i”. They must get a lot of ribbing. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2015, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/student-finds-teacher-hanging-in-classroom/714045/11 "2015-03-03T00:50:27Z")
For their pleasure of course. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2015, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/student-finds-teacher-hanging-in-classroom/714045/12 "2015-03-03T01:02:04Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > WTH did this person off herself in school? You’re looking for a rational reason for an irrational act? ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2015, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/student-finds-teacher-hanging-in-classroom/714045/13 "2015-03-03T01:08:18Z")
> [@PunditLisa](#): > > One of my dad’s best friend’s committed suicide. My dad, who had taken care of him for the better part of a year, found him. He’d shot himself. > > I often wonder why his friend didn’t call 911 prior to offing himself. It sure would have saved my dad the trauma of finding him with his face blown off. And he’s a grown adult. It really sucks that a teacher would traumatize her students like that. Yes I understand it’s a mental illness, but people who commit suicide are selfish & not thinking of others. They are not thinking of the person who discovers them, nor the EMS & police who have to see it, nor the friends & family who have to live not only the loss but with the torment of “If only I…” Do the two students who found her get A’s for the semester? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2015, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/student-finds-teacher-hanging-in-classroom/714045/14 "2015-03-03T01:17:29Z")
The parents of the kids may be/could be contacting a lawyer even as we type this. Could you imagine the settlement a school district would be willing to make for trauma like this? There goes the new uniforms for the football team. ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2015, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/student-finds-teacher-hanging-in-classroom/714045/15 "2015-03-03T01:33:18Z")
> [@Monty](#): > > You’re looking for a rational reason for an irrational act? Can’t there be rational _elements_ to an overall irrational decision? > [@Spiderman](#): > > Yes I understand it’s a mental illness, but people who commit suicide are selfish & not thinking of others. They are not thinking of the person who discovers them, nor the EMS & police who have to see it, nor the friends & family who have to live not only the loss but with the torment Going on what I said in response to the quote above, is this always the case? How do we know they aren’t thinking of others? Are we simply taking the highest profile suicides or the messiest and/or most obviously self-centered ones and ascribing similar selfish motives and thoughts to all suicides? I would think many people who end up committing suicide do so after a long, long time pondering the decision. During all that time, they’ve given much thought to how it would take place, how they would be found and the reactions of their loved ones upon learning. I think saying all people who suicide are selfish and not thinking of others is not true. I think a better way to look at it is maybe like balancing a scale. The feelings and love for those in their life constitute the weight on one side of the scale, while the pain, suffering and horror of the life they live constitutes the weight on the other side of the scale. When that weight of the pain of existence outweighs the weight of responsibility a person feels for the feelings, emotional well being and love for the loved ones in their life, suicide is the only viable alternative. ---
**Author:** ![Lee\_Q](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/aeb1de/32.png) [@Lee\_Q](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lee_Q)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2015, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/student-finds-teacher-hanging-in-classroom/714045/16 "2015-03-03T01:41:15Z")
There is a movie called “Monsieur Lazhar” that came out a couple years ago about a female elementary school teacher who hanged herself in her classroom and children found her. The Monsieur Lazhar of the title is her replacement. It’s a very quiet movie and can’t say it’s happy or anything, with such a bleak subject, but in a strange way it is inspiring, how the new teacher is with the children. I saw it streaming on Netflix a while back, not sure if it’s still available or not. For the Placentia teacher to do this so publicly and where children would likely find her seems to suggest a lot of anger or resentment. Or maybe not, who knows about such things. Hope the adults around the kids provide the support and therapy they need. ETA: Just looked it up, and the movie I cite above was actually nominated that year (2012) for an Academy Award for best foreign language film. It is French Canadian. ---
**Author:** ![yellowjacketcoder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/4bbf92/32.png) [@yellowjacketcoder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yellowjacketcoder)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2015, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/student-finds-teacher-hanging-in-classroom/714045/17 "2015-03-03T03:01:21Z")
Speaking of movies, there’s a very old German film called “Der blaue Engel” (“The Blue Angel” in English). The premise is that a respected high school teacher runs off with a stripper (I’m leaving a lot out here), realizes what a joke he’s become, and returns to his old classroom to die in the place he felt most at home. I think some people kill themselves where they felt they were most comfortable. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2015, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/student-finds-teacher-hanging-in-classroom/714045/18 "2015-03-03T04:01:20Z")
> [@Monty](#): > > You’re looking for a rational reason for an irrational act? There’s going to be a reason, even if it’s an irrational one. ---
**Author:** ![drewtwo99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2015, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/student-finds-teacher-hanging-in-classroom/714045/19 "2015-03-03T04:08:55Z")
Often times when contemplating suicide, it’s common to think of doing it in a way that causes the most drama for everyone you are bitter or angry with. I think that plays into the public nature of it. Or maybe there was no real thought put into the location, and she just impulsively did it wherever it happened that “she couldn’t take it anymore.” I had an english and history teacher in middle school, who, while I was in high school, had her husband call her on the phone during one of her lessons in the middle of the school day, and killed himself while she begged him not to. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2015, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/student-finds-teacher-hanging-in-classroom/714045/20 "2015-03-03T04:17:52Z")
> [@Suburban\_Plankton](#): > > For the sake of fighting ignorance, but at the risk of ruining the joke, the name of the city is Placentia: note the ‘i’. There’s no “i” in suicide. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/student-finds-teacher-hanging-in-classroom/714045.md?page=2)