ROCORI School Board Says It Is Taking Alleged Threat Seriously

(KNSI) – The ROCORI School Board has issued a statement about how it is handling disturbing allegations made during Tuesday’s regular meeting. A parent of a sixth-grader in the district spoke in the open forum period about threats made against her son by a group of fellow students. She was made aware of the messages on Thursday, May 26th.

Allegedly, another mom sent her a screenshot of someone fantasizing about shooting her boy in the neck and laughing at him as he bleeds out. The woman says the message was part of a chat carried out on school computers.

The mother spoke about how she sent a copy of the threats to 23 district employees, including teachers, administration, and school board members. She says she only heard back from two and had not received any personal assurances that school personnel were keeping a special eye on her son for his protection.

The mother said the district had notified her that she could pull her son out of a class in which the alleged threat maker was also enrolled and that she was not aware of any consequences that he had faced over the incident in question.

A social media storm erupted as the board returned to its agenda immediately after the mother finished, without addressing the issue. The board says it is not callous or indifferent to the disturbing accusations, but there are specific rules governing what it can say about the situation during a public meeting.

“The open forum portion of a meeting is not a process for a discussion with or comment by a school board. The School Board generally will not take board action on issues raised for the first time during the open forum at a meeting where that item is not otherwise on the School Board’s agenda. This ensures that the School Board is able to gather all relevant information and to ensure that it is acting in accordance with data privacy and Open Meeting Law provisions.”

President Jennifer Bohnsack says she spoke with the mother by phone earlier on Tuesday and also conferenced with her after the meeting concluded, as did several other board members. Bohnsack thanked the mom for her courage in coming forward.

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