The week of Monday, March 27th, started like any other week. Kids were up, ate breakfast, and walked out the door with have a great day hugs and kisses.
At some point in the week, there were two “verbal threats” by two different students in a 6th grade class at Neshobe. I, as the parent of a 6th grader and 2nd grader at Neshobe, didn’t hear anything throughout the week from my kiddos or the school.
What bothers us and is unsettling is that on Thursday, March 30th, our son’s class and another 6th grade class had “active shooter review.” Again, these two verbal threats and active shooter review which took place were never emailed to us or any other parent in the school.
Now, on Friday, March 31, the staff had a meeting regarding the above events and again no email to the parents. A whistle blower from inside the school didn’t feel this situation was right not to inform the parents and social media blew up.
Monday, April 3rd, the police showed up at the school and as we have read in the Rutland Herald, had one of the students removed and cited to appear in court.
Neshobe Principal Vicki Wells noted in an email Saturday that the threat assessment team looked at both incidents and was dealing with them internally. I am still in the dark about who is on the threat assessment team? Why did the Brandon Police Chief show up at school on Monday and over one-hundred students were absent from Neshobe if there was nothing going on? It was because parents, panicked because of the lack of transparency and communication from Vicki.
If the Chief of Police stepped in and the student was removed from school grounds then perhaps the threat assessment team was wrong? I think that in the future that verbal threats reported to the Principal should go directly to the Brandon Police Department. Vicki as Principal has not proven capable of handling this type of situation.
This complete panic was not because of misinformation it was because without the whistle blower we had no information. Now that everything is coming to light the school wants transparency. You can’t have a Monday morning quarterback after a Sunday night. This damage and feeling of incompetence have settled in and the Principal Vicki Wells needs to resign or be removed from her position.
These are our kids…our lives…our family…our community and this was handled totally wrong.
Sincerely,
Chris & Alex Barnhardt
Brandon
