BWHS email

NOW we know who to blame- Sunny and her highly negative music!!! shame on you for all the gangsta rap and death metal you thrust upon our children sunny.... shaaaaame.

 

i'm a lover, not a fighter

 

ahhhHA! music to stimulate raging hormones that manifest in a violent nature... shaaaame on you.

in all seriousness- i am glad the school took serious, prompt action. guns are easy to come by around here and the distance between a threat and a tragedy is a short one.

 

ANd we are a bunch of unsettled parents at BWHS. When I went to get Kaosgirl lots of kids had already been pulled out.

 

So I don't understand why the phone call said "rumored violence at BWHS is NOT TRUE" when, clearly, it WAS true. The staff acted appropriately by calling the sheriff's office, who in turn, was there to arrest this guy. But, the threat was REAL! It could have turned out much worse. Makes me want to home school again.

 

Yes, I'm a little peeved that I was lied to by the school. What gives with that?

 

well to play devil's advocate for a sec, the YOU talked to might have also thought it was a rumor. misinformation spreads faster than truth, so you may have caught someone who honestgly wasn't aware of the threat. i can imagine they might have been trying to keep it as quiet as possible so as not to cause a riot, and maybe only gave the full story to certain staff members, but intentionally lying would be really stupid.

 

It was a recorded message from the Vice Principal, stating that it was a "rumor". I'm sure he knew that, in fact, it wasn't a "rumor".

 

oof. bad idea.

 

Well, for certain there will be a lot of "Monday Morning Quarterbacking" on this. But the sad thing is that, according to the police report, the problem was removed before he made it into the school.

So, why was the message not; "Threats have been made against the school. However, the person responsible for making those threats has been detained & removed from school grounds"?

The school & the Sheriffs did a great job in execution, but a lousy job in communication.

 

Exactly! I give them A LOT of credit for stepping up to prevent something terrible from happening, but they should have told the truth about it.

 

i dropped my daughter off at school this morning at the regualer time. before i got out of the parking lot, she was calling asking me to come back. i came back , she told me someone was threating to do a "VA Tech". I said, "GET IN". i parked and talked to Mr Byers and the sheriff outside the school. not much info, but when I asked if i could call later to see if the situation was taken care of, Mr. Byer said "not sure they will be able to tell you anything." I said ok, I'll call later. I asked the officer if i asked him how things were right now, what would he say? he said I would tell you everything was just fine. (he was smiling) I said, with a smile, "i think you would be full of $#@&." he just smiled. (it was a very friendly conversation, seriously)
I called at 10 and was told by the secretary that the boy was in handcuffs and being taken away.
I then got the emails and recorded phone calls. Around 2:45, i got the Loudoun alert.
I agree, school should of said that there was a threat, sheriff is there and all is safe. the student is contained. (or something like that. )
i really feel like the school lied. but felt that the situation was handled properly by the sheriff's office. don't understand why the school didn't just tell the truth? i did write to Mr Byers to ask about this. BWHS is a good school, just think they made a mistake this time.

my daughter, too, said that the boy and his cousin were suspended. from what she has said, this is not the first time he has been suspended. but she is a high school drama queen, so who knows!?! also, according to her, "no one's mom made them go back to school!" except me, of course! i'm just "so mean and don't care about her!" :' (

 

Yes, it appears that the sheriff's office had everything under control and I am very thankful for that. I am very disappointed in how BWHS handled communications. Clearly there was a real threat, not just a rumor. There was a fight in front of the school on Friday which many students saw including my daughter. Apparently it triggered the threat over the weekend. Why didn't school admin make a follow up call or send home a note explaining what had happened? I am less inclined to trust them if something like this happens again.

 

Sounds like the "rumor" was that the student had a gun - but the article says he wasn't in possession of a gun, right?

 

First - I doubt very seriously that BWHS handled comms. It was dictated from the Supervisor's office.

The fight on Friday (evidently - and I am getting this from various students) resulted in expulsion because Deshawn's cousin was involved and threatened he had a knife.

Comment from a staffer at BWHS was along the lines of 'We can expell these kids but the parents appeal the decision and the board caves in.'

The question becomes - what to do with problem kids that, obviously, can't be controlled by the parents? As much as I'd like to have a "simple" answer, I have none. Does anyone?

 

I am also disappointed with the communication. My daughter said her classes were empty because their parents had heard what was happening. We relied on the school to communicate with us and didn't know there was a very real threat. They got tired of parents yanking their kids out and told the kids they had to stop texting their parents. This was not handled well at all by the school.

 

This was not real time info. The kid was picked up upon arrival before 9 am. I received the phone call at around 11 am. The message was from the assistant principal. After Daeshawn McDonald was removed by police they should not have implied it was just a rumor and they should have stated that a student had been removed from the school for allegedly making threats. They also could have sent a note home with the kids that were left at school. I have received similar notes when there was exposure to communicable diseases and other serious threats. Why no explanation now? What efforts are they making to ensure school is safe tomorrow and going forward?

No way the supervisors had anything to do with this. Probably there was input from Hatrick and Wade Byard. He can be expelled for threatening violence and there is no way the school board is going to cave. He has been charged by the police and is now in the adult detention center. Expulsion is the answer IMO.

 

Don't they have a program for these kind of "disturbed" kids? A school where the staff can be trained to handle the unique situations these kids present, and head counts can be kept to a minimum. Sort of a magnet school concept.

This would make more sense than building multi-million dollar sports complexes.

 

They do have a school like that. That is probably where this kid will end up if he doesn't drop out.