High School Shooting Threats - Should parents be notified?

[Ginger]

Kelsey came home today with a notice. Apparently LAST TUESDAY some graffiti was found by a senior in a bathroom that said there was going to be a shooting at the school on Friday. They also around the same time got word of a Facebook group that was formed surrounding teasing a Senior boy.

My issue with this is that they did not send home a notice on Wed or Thurs after they found the graffiti. They did have a full police investigation and such, and as such it was felt by the RCMP Task Force that it was a hoax. However, in these times when we hear of innocent children dying in school shootings every few months it seems, I just feel it should be my decision to make if I keep my child home from school when a threat is made that could possibly be life-threatening or traumatic for my child.

What do you think? Should we have been notified before the Friday when the supposed shooting was to happen? or were they just avoiding a mass exodus of students being kept home unnecessarily by parents?

[Brent & Kim]

You should have been notified, imo.

[Tommygurl]

I saw it on the news last night....
Yes you should have been notified.....

[Ginger]

Originally Posted by Tommygurl

I saw it on the news last night....
Yes you should have been notified.....

I know, right? I was really angry! I sent an email to the principal to voice my disastisfaction, along with a LOT of other parents.

[syl]

Originally Posted by Ginger

I know, right? I was really angry! I sent an email to the principal to voice my disastisfaction, along with a LOT of other parents.

YES!!!!!!

[kirbyfan]

There is no doubt at all that you should have been notified! I would be pissed!

We had a young boy in my daughters preschool class that they were almost certian had meningitis (sp?) and when one of the other teachers told me and I asked the classroom teacher about it, she became quite upset that I had found out. I was not happy. This is something that could be very contagious as well as deadly, I have the right to know this and to decide if my child should attend school or wait until the results were known positively. We held our daughter out until all the facts were presented.

[Seakony]

thank you Lord for making me barren....one less thing to deal with.

[Ginger]

Originally Posted by kirbyfan

There is no doubt at all that you should have been notified! I would be pissed!

We had a young boy in my daughters preschool class that they were almost certian had meningitis (sp?) and when one of the other teachers told me and I asked the classroom teacher about it, she became quite upset that I had found out. I was not happy. This is something that could be very contagious as well as deadly, I have the right to know this and to decide if my child should attend school or wait until the results were known positively. We held our daughter out until all the facts were presented.

yah, we had a meningitis outbreak when we lived in Abbotsford and our kids were little. At that time it was university level students getting it and a few did (4 or 5 I think), I was attending Univ. then. We all were notified and they set up a clinic for assessments and for immunizations. That's a disease that kills, I'd want to know too.

[Seakony]

with so many kids pulling pranks, like calling in bomb threats just to get out of class...it makes it very difficult to make a call about letting kids stay home or not. I know our school systems get federal and state dollars depending on school attendance...so if there are alot of abscences, the money coming in will be less. When you see police officers at elementary schools for security, you know the world has gotten screwed up. You can't blame the school for bad behavior...it's the parents and their lack of discipline at home and the refusal to let the school mete out punishment. I remember hearing a student getting an occasion "lick' or three in the hallways of middle and high school. We never had any bomb threats and shootings were just not a reality. We also never had a policeman on campus. The only thing I can come up to explain the difference is good parenting and good school spankings.

[raquelle261]

Meningitis, unfortunately, is something that is prevalent here. Guns, thankfully, not so much, although they and knives, unfortunately, are becoming more common in recent months.

You DEFINITELY should have been informed in advance. On both counts.

[Thor Henning]

Of cource you should have been notified!

[MWC]

Originally Posted by kirbyfan

There is no doubt at all that you should have been notified! I would be pissed!

We had a young boy in my daughters preschool class that they were almost certian had meningitis (sp?) and when one of the other teachers told me and I asked the classroom teacher about it, she became quite upset that I had found out. I was not happy. This is something that could be very contagious as well as deadly, I have the right to know this and to decide if my child should attend school or wait until the results were known positively. We held our daughter out until all the facts were presented.

How sad, yet that IS the typical reaction within a school system. How they can still act "Shocked, just shocked" that parents might communicate amongst themselves is ridiculous to me.

I would have wanted to be notified, and in this day and age, there are so many ways the school system could have notified parents. For everything else I could criticize my kids' school system for, they have reacted well to threats of violence in the area, plus other health issues.

If your school system doesn't have an e-mail alert system and phone system in place, Leasa, you should press that they should.

[Jacko]

In my experience (Linda worked in the school system), the school system has always been concerned because parents do not often work or communicate enough with them on problems...here we have a case of the school system not working or communicating enough with the parents when they should be....its supposed to be a partnership with the best interests of our children in mind....I would work to change this approach within my school system if I had a child in that school.

[farmgirl]

I would think that all parents should have been notified. Wouldn't the school be worried that by the time the stories got back to the parents it might not be what actually happened? You know how gossip goes. I think to avoid alot of problems, whenever anything that effects the students happens in a school that the school has a responsibility to let the parents know about it. Even if it is just to calm us down so there is not a mass exodus of kids on a certain day. Our elementary/junior high school is great at communication. We get notes home if there is lice at school along with instructions on how to check for them and what to do if they are found.

[NorthMinnesota]

Our school district notifies us immediately by email and then letter sent home with student if an "unusual" event takes place. You should have been notified!