Notification of Threats to Students Depends on Principals

By Amber Lester Tuesday, March 02, 2010

Parents of James River Elementary School students were notified by the principal last week when a student was suspended for bringing a toy gun on the school bus, a sharp contrast to how parents of Toano Middle School students heard about an in-school stabbing plot that was broken up by the school resource officer.

On Friday, James River Principal Lynn Turner and Assistant Principal Mindy Thompson sent a letter to parents to let them know that a day before a student had the toy in his backpack, which was confiscated by administrators in the parking lot before the student entered the school.

In the letter, the administrators wrote, “At no time was this toy out of the backpack on the bus and it was at all times in the possession of administration in the school building.” They also reminded parents that toy weapons are not allowed at schools.

Williamsburg-James City County schools require any student in possession of a real or fake weapon receive a minimum 10-day suspension, according to WJCC spokesman Greg Davy. Davy said the student, who was not named, has been recommended for long-term suspension.

The toy gun incident comes weeks after James City County Police and the Fire Department revealed a Toano Middle School student was being detained at Merrimac Juvenile Detention Center a month after bringing a knife to school. On Feb. 9 the fire and police departments announced that on Jan. 15, a fellow Toano student told the school’s resource officer that the student, whose name has not been revealed publicly, had a knife in a school bathroom. The student turned the knife over to the officer and was suspended. Another student was implicated in the plot; both students’ discipline hearings are pending. Read more here.

At the time, some parents were shocked to find out a student had brought a knife to school on Jan. 15 and they didn’t hear about it from the administration until Feb. 9. Toano Principal Theresa Redd sent a voice mail message to parents on the day of the police department’s announcement, but parent Mark Bernecker said he would have rather heard about the event the day it occurred.

WJCC doesn’t have a set policy for notifying parents when a child brings a weapon to school. “The principal relies on his/her professional judgment to decide how to handle each case,” Davy said in an e-mail. “Each principal in the Toano and James River incidents handled the situations using their best professional judgment.”

He went on to say that principals would notify parents if they felt students’ safety could be compromised. The division does not, however, issue public statements for every incident involving a student.

“Incidents involving students occur fairly frequently throughout any school year, in varying degrees of severity,” he said. “In the vast majority of cases such as this [the toy gun], the matter can be handled internally without causing unnecessary panic or anxiety in the community.”

York County has a similar policy regarding the possession of real or fake weapons at schools, according to spokesperson Betsy Overkamp-Smith. She said the decision to notify parents is based on the specifics of each incident. “The principal works collaboratively with staff at the School Board Office to make the determination of how or when parents are notified,” she said.

“When we do notify parents of a situation, we often ask for their help in talking with their child about what should and should not be brought to school and to remind students to alert a staff member if they see that someone has brought a weapon (or a facsimile) to school,” she said in an e-mail.