Good Afternoon,

I am still concerned about last Friday’s lock down and lack of information about it. I was thinking there would be some communication to reassure parents. I would like to know if there was a weapon found and if we know who is responsible for the lock down. And where is the student now?

The response…
First, no weapon was involved in the lockdown. The lock down stemmed from written material, and the police are working the with the state handwriting analysis group. At this time, no one person has been identified as the person that originated the note. I cannot discuss specific student issues of course, but on a previous day student witnesses reported to Mrs. Wilson that a student had been showing a knife to other students prior to the start of school. The police were immediately involved, and the student is not at school.

The lockdown procedure has been in force for a number of years, and the students do practice such a drill just as they do fire drills and tornado drills. Mrs. Wilson initiated the lock down, contacted me and the local authorities. The safety of the students is paramount, and we will continue to provide a safe learning environment for the students and staff. I know that the media were involved, and I know that the office fielded numerous questions from parents. I can discuss communication options with Mrs. Wilson.

Thank you for the e-mail!

Dr. David Arnold

I’d like to stand up for Maren also. I do know her and even though she isn’t a small town person, I don’t think she would ever offend or insult someone from a small town on purpose. I don’t know her to think that she’s better than others. I thought her comment about the articulate opinions hit the nail on the head. So many people do a lot of “stinkin thinkin” and type/speak before really thinking about what they are saying. I think this post has a very serious topic and the comments have been very thoughtout for the most part. I agree with those of you that say something needs to be done. I had a 5th grader bring a knife to school and after he was suspended for 10 straight days, we had to have a hearing with the supt. of discipline to see whether he should be allowed back into school. It definitely made him realize that it was no laughing matter and as the stories passed through the other kids’ mouths, they too knew things were taken seriously. I’m not sure that jail is the best place for the student in WCV’s case but he needs someone to do something otherwise he might think it’s all a joke and next time take it a step farther.

With everything that has happened in the world with 911, Columbine, VTech, and many other incidents that just aren’t “big” enough to make the world news, people do have a greater sense of fear. Things like this can happen anywhere, in schools, in malls, in office buildings, pretty much where ever there are people, so we can’t just fear our kids’ lives at school. Be confident that when you send your kids to school, those teachers, administrators, and other staff members are there to protect them and they will do the right thing. It’s part of the job.

Hindsight is 20/20.

It is easy to criticize the school for their actions when you don’t realize what the school can actually do or not do. There are protocols that need to be followed and these are not done on a whim.

How many people actually knew that this kid had a hit list for more than a year. I didn’t.

Too often rumors float around and the original story gets so twisted that it isn’t even close to being accurate.

OK, you said that the hit list has been known, but do you actually know if the administration knew of it? Do you actually know if the administration “blew it off”?

As a teacher AND a parent, I have seen firsthand how accounts differ from one student to another. I have personally witnessed how my own 2 sons have communicated wrong stories.

So, base your opinions on facts. You may love your son/daugher immensely and feel they are the salt of the earth, but they too can tell a different story.

Instead, call Mrs. Wilson and get the facts from her.

Now, during the lock-down, I had several students who were shaking and upset. We initially thought this was a drill, but as time passed, it became apparent that this was the real deal.

The horrific event from VT was fresh on their minds, but Columbine is a distant memory. Either way, these students were genuinely afraid AND what we did in the high school was the right thing to do.

It is wonderful that you are thinking of the welfare of the students (your children), but don’t ever think that the school disregards their safety. Mrs. Wilson did the right thing.

IF, and I say IF, all is true about the ‘hit-list’ and other things being said, like that the kid ‘needs mental help’, the administration should involve not only the police, but the PARENTS, and they should be held responsible for if and when he gets the help he needs. School is school, not therapy or a babysitter or the police, and it is sad that so many parents use it for that. Also, I do know about the threat from last year and I can tell you that you are 100% wrong about the police not being invloved. Just because your child doesn’t know about it or told you that they weren’t invloved, does NOT mean that it’s true. And just because the administration didn’t broadcast in the school newsletter, doesn’t mean it wasn’t handled in the way it is indicated in the handbook. All it means is that the administration successfully took care of the immediate threat and didn’t have to involve or place stress on your child to do it. They obviously felt it was handled and that it wouldn’t happen again. They can’t see the future or know everything that will happen.

I understand your worry. I don’t have children in high school yet, and I was worried for all the kids/teachers/administration involved. But we have to keep things in perspective. Someone commented on one of the other blogs that school should have been let out so the kids could go home. I also disagree with that. If something would have happened to a student on their way home from school, who would have been blamed? Administration. I’d bet my last dollar on that one. Also (and I hate that this is even true), if kids see that they can get out of school by throwing around some threatening note, what’s stopping someone else from doing it to get another day off, or to miss that algebra test they didn’t study for? The person responsible will be held accountable for his/her actions and I absolutely believe any investigation into the handling of this situation by the teachers/administration will show that they did everything they were supposed to do and acted in the best interest of your children.

Thank you marenfaye and annonymous for your intelligent conversations. Nate is right, there are too many emotional and heated commenters. My comment was not to offend anyone, but simply to make sure that we’re looking at all sides of an issue before we make hasty judgements and accusations.

Just because I don’t live in your community doesn’t mean I don’t know what it’s like to deal with any of those issues.

I think you would agree that when this blog lit up over the school bond vote (something I don’t know about, therefore stayed out of), there were quite a few comments that were virtually incomprehensible, due to CAPS LOCK and various curse words among numerous other things. I brought up the fact that you are a credible arguer because I think this topic could bring in that volume of comments again, which unfortunately seems to bring out the worst in some people (not you) given an anonymous forum.

You’d be hard pressed to argue that the majority of comments on here are based on intelligence and logic. Far more are based on pure emotion and speculation.

Is there a right way to comment? I don’t think so. But it’s tough to have a debate when emotions are getting in the way and clouding everything up.

“But I do have to give you credit for being both articulate and precise with your opinions.”

Do we not have brains up here in the sticks? We do know how to read, write, think. It’s amazing at how universal those skills are.

Yes, I’m being sarcastic because that’s just a rude statement.

And yes, I did say “people like you” because you came off swinging with insults on people who expressed opinions even though you don’t know anything about them. But yet you take offense when I said that? If you don’t like to be grouped with the notorious “those people” then don’t act like them – insulting without knowing.

The monsters don’t help anything, especially if you are using a public computer like this one. I’ve posted on here and probably have had at least 5 different monsters. Nothing is any clearer with them.

Here’s where we’ll have to agree to disagree. I don’t think every kid with a “list” is a total mental case.

Believe it or not, there are, actually, a few things I do know:

1. Chances are at least 10 other kids in a school this size have had vivid thoughts about taking people out.
2. My husband was working on the university campus last Friday when a vague bomb threat was emailed in. Campus didn’t close down, no one went home, no one freaked out, and guess what? Nothing happened.
3. Group think (and gossip) is dangerous.

And there are a couple things I don’t know:

1. I have no idea who Arnold or Wilson are.
2. I have no idea what it’s like to live anywhere that could be considered ‘rural.’ Maybe this is why the threats don’t rile me up as much.

It really irked me when you said, “I guess she has to live with her decisions and mistakes,” implying this was a mistake in the first place. It seems to me like no one knows for sure what’s going on with this kid yet.

But I do have to give you credit for being both articulate and precise with your opinions. I only wish I could say the same for others that will discuss issues like these.

My main point is that we can’t constantly be living in fear. I hope that is something we both can agree on.