Boise, Idaho News, Weather and Traffic - KTRV Fox 12 - School Fails to Notify Parents of Shooting Threat
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Caldwell, Idaho -- Parents of many students enrolled at Vallivue's Sage Valley Middle School are outraged.
There were extra police patrols and monitoring at Sage Valley Middle School Monday. The entrance into the playground and sports fields were blocked off with cars.
That's all due to an incident that occurred last Thursday.
"Some Mexicans start walking out of the school and some people got concerned because they kept saying threats about they were going to come and shoot the school," said Naomi Reed, a student.
While the school immediately notified police, many parents of Sage Valley students, some of whom didn't want to appear on camera, had no idea anything out of the ordinary was going on.
"Nobody knew about it. Basically the only way we found out is the rumor from the kids when we picked them up," said Steven Richards, a parent.
"I heard about halfway through the school day that this was going on and I choose to go get my student because I would rather be safe than sorry," said another parent.
Now some moms and dad's are furious the school district didn't send a letter home.
"That was what made me angry. Not knowing what had happened, not knowing that there had been as they say rumors," said one parent.
"Well I think it should be my option whether I need to go pick up my student or not," said another.
The assistant superintendent with Vallivue School District says he's sorry some people are upset, but it was a judgement call. The school had investigated the threat and believed it to be only a rumor.
"We just didn't want to send this notice home to all of the parents that this is there because we probably wouldn't have had anyone at school today and that again would have given credence to the whole rumor," said Pat Charlton, the assistant superintendent.
But some parent's feel that's not good enough.
"You know Columbine had hear rumors that things like this might happen, or that they might have an incident like this at their school. Low and behold, look how many people were killed at Columbine," said one parent.
Now those parents want an apology, and some even say they want the district to change it's policy to alert families anytime there's any type of a threat.
Since the school believes the threat was just a rumor, they say it's unlikely any students will be disciplined in relation to the incident. They plan on sending a letter home to parents, explaining more about the situation and the school's actions.
