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Board apprised on response to recent threat
Students, parents, teachers and administrators at schools districts across the state and country are feeling on edge following a wave of violence at schools this year, including the Feb. 14 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., that claimed the lives of 17 people, making it one of the deadliest school massacres.
During these tense times, Bellefontaine City Schools officials and board of education members urged the public at their Monday evening meeting to get their news from reliable sources, and reassured parents they will be notified in the event it is determined there is a credible and reliable threat, stressing that student safety is the district’s top priority.
A Bellefontaine Middle School parent attended the meeting to express her concerns about school safety regarding a previously reported incident Thursday at BMS that was later the topic of a social media post that evening.
Superintendent Brad Hall and board members reiterated that the incident Thursday, where a student allegedly made a verbal threat, was handled during the school day Thursday with the appropriate resources, including consulting with the district’s school resource officer from the Bellefontaine Police Department.
The situation had been resolved, ending with the student being issued a suspension and it was deemed there was no credible threat. However, district officials said a fellow student posted on social media after 10 p.m. Thursday evening and created a widespread panic among Bellefontaine City Schools families.
“The incident that was inaccurately and incompletely spread through social media last week was, in fact, handled swiftly and completely by our administrators and police department, as well as the child’s parent — exactly the people who should be handling student behavior issues,” Hall said in a prepared statement.
“Furthermore, hours before the social media storm, the incident was totally resolved, with no threat of danger to any of our students.”
The superintendent directed district residents to specific sources for accurate information, and promised the district will be forthcoming with information if there is a threat to student safety.
“In response to the stories of last week, the Bellefontaine City Schools Board of Education wants to urge parents to get their news from credible sources, such as directly from the school, directly from our police department, or directly from our local newspaper or radio.
“If a threat is creditable; we will let parents know; meanwhile, we need to trust the people in positions of authority to handle student behavior appropriately.”
President Joan Haushalter also address the parent’s concerns and thanked her for attending the meeting.
“Thank you for coming tonight. We like to hear from parents in this forum, rather than having someone post on social media when they might not know all of the facts,” she said.
“We are so sorry that parents woke up scared on Friday morning, uncertain about whether they should send their children to school. We want to create an environment that is conducive to learning.”
Moving forward, Hall said the district will “continually review and examine any opportunities for increased safety awareness.
“Your student’s teachers, principals, staff, administration and school board are all wholly invested in the safety of every child. Our schools and our parents are on the same team with the same goal — to create a safe and successful environment to educate our students.”
Read complete BOE NEWS in Tuesday’s Examiner.
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