Kennesaw Mountain High (MDJ / Lindsay Field)
By afternoon Friday, things had quieted down, said James Arrowood, director of public safety for Cobb Schools.
“It seems to get a life of its own on these Twitter accounts,” he said. “They talked about shooting but no direct ‘I will bring weapons here … shooting whoever.’”
School police were joined by eight Kennesaw Police officers in patrolling the campus Friday, and many parents pulled their children out of school for the day, officials said.
District spokesman Jay Dillon said “several” students were being “dealt with appropriately according to school district policy” on Friday morning after school administrators learned Thursday that the students made potential threats via Twitter.
School leaders “called campus police, public safety and have also worked with the Kennesaw Police Department to investigate it,” Dillon said. “We were able to identify the students involved … it’s still under investigation and there could be additional students.”
The district would not say how many students were involved, but that campus police had turned it over to school administers by Friday afternoon as a “purely disciplinary matter, rather than a police investigation.”
According to the district’s conduct manual regarding off-campus offenses, the administration can discipline a student for “conduct which makes the student’s continued presence at school a potential danger to persons or property at the school or which disrupts the educational process.”
Kennesaw Mountain has more than 2,000 students in grades nine through 12.
Principal Kevin Daniel also posted a message on the school’s website and sent out a phone message to parents Friday morning, and another one later in the day.
He advised parents that police officers were on campus throughout the day and that the students who were making threats were identified and disciplined according to district policy.
“We will continue to keep you informed if the situation changes,” the online message states. “Please be aware that at this time no incidents have occurred on our campus today and that we will continue to pursue any students involved in making threatening statements. Students involved in making such statements or in fighting will be disciplined appropriately.”
A Kennesaw Mountain parent who spoke on condition of anonymity said his daughter sent him a number of instant messages throughout the day with updates on what was going on inside the school.
About 11:15 a.m., she sent him another message that stated, “So many cops here, I feel safe.”
Kennesaw Police Officer Scott Luther said his agency had eight officers on campus Friday and patrolling hallways during the day.
Dillon said “higher than normal” numbers of students were checked out of school early on Friday.
Another district spokesman, Doug Goodwin, said that while Cobb does not actively monitor students’ social media activities, “For situations in which online activity outside of school disrupts the normal, safe operation of the school day, our administrators and campus police can and do use available tools for investigation and to follow up with appropriate action for the benefit and safety of students.”
“Due to the open nature of platforms such as Twitter and Facebook, administrators are very swiftly notified of potentially disruptive activity by students, parents and/or community members using these platforms,” he said. “Whether or not a safety concern originates from social media, our schools’ responsibility to follow up is the same.”
Goodwin said the district encourages students and families to speak up if they read or hear about any potentially disruptive activity.
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Please tell us what went on during the Tweets.
They also failed to alert the parents when they found out it, instead of waiting until they had "reliable information" according to the school website. Couldn't they have at least said the previous night that they have rumors of the issue? They left all of this to the mercy of the internet and left it alone and unanswered for way too long. This is what lead to confusion (people saying there was indeed a shooter) and more fear then there should have been.
The school has also not mentioned that at the end of the day I SAW WITH MY OWN EYES two people run out of the back of the school and in the direction of the football field and track around 3:00 and were found and arrested. I heard ten in total were arrested though, but I can say that two indeed were arrested after running.
They ALSO failed to mention this was a in-school GANG RELATED ACTIVITY and the graffiti on the wall somewhere in the building.
The last FAILURE they made was not mentioning the punishments to the students. Therefore we will be left wondering if they will return and shoot next month/semester or be in jail and put under a long-term probation. I did read somewhere, though, that this will not be a criminal charge. Does that mean if I threaten to shoot up the Town Center Mall I won't be arrested?
Perhaps covering up the TRUTH to keep your reputation up isn't good when it may have involved DEATHS, GUNS, and CHILD SAFETY?
This likely will keep happening until there is a real shooting sometime, somewhere because of some random occurrence. It may not be at KMHS but both gangs are at strong tensions and look like they will not go down without a fight.
Total failure count - 7: Not raising awareness properly, not alerting the members of the school (parents and students) properly, not providing any notes about this until people have been at the school for two-or-so hours, not mentioning the complete story, didn't mention gangs, didn't mention graffiti, declined to publish the punishments for all to see.
My son stayed all day, and enjoyed the enhanced teacher:student ratio.
The guilty Twitterers should have the book thrown at them. Expulsion.
The principal and school were following protocol. If you don't like how it was handled, contact the board and your board member and work at changing policy.
And remember to breathe.
Now the "Little Darlings" will be protected by the "it's under investigation" mantra of the Cobb School District.
MDJ please do your job aND REPORT what really happened at KMHS.
Say what whatever else you want, but it's blatantly false to say that "the students do not see [his] presence or that parents cannot have a personal one-on-one meeting with [him]."
It was a complete disaster today as 1,000 /- kids checked out. A weak and vague notice was not posted on the school's website until several hours into the school day. An email or calling post should have been sent last night or at least first thing this morning. This was a huge waste of time for many parents. It would have been better to keep all kids at home until the police completed their investigation.
why not this. I would have preferred hearing about the situation from the school and not the disturbing text messages from my child. I was traveling today and felt helpless, no one would answer the school phone. I would suggest a review of the school's performance and invite parents and students to participate.
Perhaps if I were to receive a call before school telling me the situation was under control and security was being stepped up, I would have felt comfortable leaving him there.
.
Tuesday- staff assistance
Wednesday- police assistance
Thursday- enhanced police assistance
Friday- Kennesaw police assistance
My source is my own two eyes and the eyes of likely more than 1,000 people.
Supposedly 30 odd kids were called down to the office before they dismissed school for the day, which tells me they really didn't have a specific, credible threat from any single student, just a lot of chatter.
And cue the insipid "better safe than sorry" line. Adults are supposed to have better judgment than kids -- not worse.
The school has to investigate all that comes across their desk to determine whether information is true or not. The school is legally responsible for all the students on their campus. The school did use good judgement and I thank them for protecting our students.