Mahomet-Seymour Junior High Student brings knife to school; parents question why they were not notified

Mahomet-Seymour Superintendent Lindsay Hall hosted the first of three scheduled Bulldog Dialogue meetings at Middletown Prairie Elementary Monday night.

In a boardroom filled with nearly 30 parents and taxpayers, Hall presented information about the nature of the Bulldog Dialogue meetings and offered information about the sale of Sangamon Elementary, the upcoming tax levy and the district’s 1-to-1 initiative, which will provide all sixth through twelfth grade students with a personal Chromebook by fall of 2018.

Hall then opened up the floor to discussion and questions for guests.

Parents initiated the conversation by talking about a sexual assault claim within the District, and the need for Erin’s law to be implemented into the district’s curriculum.

“Erin’s Law” requires that all K-12 public schools in each state implement a prevention-oriented child sexual abuse program. Hall said the district will implement the program in the spring of 2018.

Parents were also curious about the district’s communication policy in regards to weapons being brought to school.

On the backs of a rumor, Hall divulged basic information in regards to an incident at Mahomet-Seymour Junior High on November 10.

“A student brought a knife to school on Friday, and it was taken out and waved around,” Hall said.

Although a few parents were aware of the incident, several parents within the room were surprised to hear about the event that happened within their child’s school.

“And we weren’t notified as parents, nothing? And that is not part of any school policy to alert any parent in the junior high that their student might have been near or witnessed. I would have loved to have a conversation with my student. Did she witness this? Because I’m not aware of this until this meeting tonight.”

Hall said that the district’s blast email or phone system is used on a “case-by-case basis.”

“I would say generally speaking, parent emails would go home when we implement our crisis plan, when there is a change in the school day, when there is a lockdown/evacuation or some other type of action that is taken that is rooted in our crisis plan,” she said.

“But I will put the asterisk by that and say, taken on a case-by-case basis, generally speaking.”

Because many junior high students are aware of the incident, Meghan Hennesy said she firmly believes an email should have been sent to give basic information about the incident and to lay out the district’s policy and procedure for parents.

“The rumor mills are wildfire,” she said. “All we can do is speculate about what is happening, our kids aren’t coming home and telling us or talking to us about what happened, so then we are flooding you and the principals with questions about why this and why that because many parents don’t understand what they can and can’t ask, and frustration levels rise.”

Hall said the district did not notify teachers about the incident.

Because junior high students are talking about the incident among themselves, parents asked for the teachers and administration to talk to the group about what happened Friday.

“I feel like, for something of this significance, I have some work to do at home with my children to talk to them about this,” Hennesy said. “I think the school has some work to do with the kids because as much as some people don’t know about it, the kids know about it. The kids are talking about it, and from what I understand, they are talking about it just amongst themselves.”

“They haven’t had any real information from a teacher or a parent at this point. And I just find that problematic on multiple levels.”

Kristina Rath said that in conversation with her student, she realized that he is concerned about the incident.

“I did have a critical conversation with my eighth-grade student tonight, and his first question was, ‘Am I safe to go to school?’” she said.

“I was comfortable enough in saying to him, ‘The problem is being taken care of by the school, yes, you are safe to go to school,’ but then he says to me, ‘What if it happens again?’”

After listening for a while, Hall said, “I see the frustration on your face, and I understand that. I can tell that my reaction is contributing to some frustration, and I acknowledge that. But I am responsible for all of the students in the district, including the kid that made the horrible decision. And so talking about the consequence, anything that identifies the kid.”

Hall also responded to rumors saying that, “I have seen some of the information that’s out there, and it’s wrong. So there is misinformation about what happened, and I can’t talk about the consequence other than to say the policy was followed.”

“I acknowledge that some kids are scared, but the developmental level of junior high kids is that they talk about just about anything that goes on,” Hall said. “And please don’t take that comment as me downplaying, but I think it’s important to also understand how a junior high building works.”

“And how it works is that kids talk about things all the time, and so that doesn’t mean that the adults also engage in that kind of discussion.”

Hall said social workers were provided to students most closely involved with the incident.

“So I will share with you the minimal amount of information that I feel comfortable sharing, considering that we are talking about a minor, another student, who is legally entitled to the highest level of privacy and confidentiality.”

“The situation was contained in about one minute. It was not a situation where a whole lot of kids even saw it. So if your kid didn’t come home and say anything about it, they probably weren’t anywhere near or didn’t know anything about it.”

“But I can’t say that for sure,” she continued. “The policy was followed. So that’s really about all I can say.”

Hall went on to encourage parents to constantly talk to their child about school safety.

“What I would encourage, is that no matter what, there be ongoing conversation at home about the fact that in a public school district of our size, we have students with varying needs, and students who make all kinds of interesting, sometimes not good decisions throughout the day.”

“I don’t believe we need an incident to spur on conversation at home.”

“So I would encourage you and all parents to talk about school safety all the time: talk about what to do if they don’t feel safe, talk about who is a trusted adults are at school, talk about where to go and what to do if they feel unsafe, or see things that are suspicious or see behavior that is bothersome. We have to teach our kids constantly how to advocate for themselves in the context of school. And my teachers do a tremendous job and our teachers did a tremendous job on Friday, as well.”

Hennesy said that she looked at the district’s board policy in regards to weapons, and felt it did not give much room for leeway.

The Mahomet-Seymour board policy manual, located on the Mahomet-Seymour School District website, states “A student who is determined to have brought one of the following objects to school, any school-sponsored activity or event, or any activity or event that bears a reasonable relationship to school shall be expelled for a period of at least one calendar year but not more than 2 calendar years.”

After the definition of weapons, the policy states, “The expulsion requirement under either paragraph 1 or 2 above may be modified by the Superintendent, and the Superintendent’s determination may be modified by the Board on a case-by-case basis.”

Hall said the policy was followed.

In an interview with the Mahomet Citizen Editor Fred Kroner, Hall stated, “The handbook is a set of guidelines. Considering the age of our students, anywhere from 3 to 21, there is an incredible range of developmental stages.”

“There are unique and different circumstances that come up.”

In this week’s Mahomet Citizen, Kroner also writes that Hall said, “We have a re-entry process that involves parent meetings and meetings with administrator and/or a social worker.”

During the meeting, Rath asked if parents were not satisfied with the board policy if they could petition the school board for a policy change or update.

Hall and School Board President Max McComb said there are public participation times at open public board meetings for public participation.