ROUNDUP— Some Roundup parents are unenrolling their children from Roundup Elementary School following the school district’s response to rumors of a threat Tuesday.
Parents such as Katie Wilson are planning on homeschooling their children instead.
Watch the report below:
“It's going to be tough, but we'll figure it out,” said Wilson. “I just bought those four lockers right there.”
Wilson and other parents told MTN it is because they are unhappy with how much time the Roundup School District took to tell parents of claims that a student had a weapon.
The district learned around 11 a.m. of claims that a student possessed a gun.
The district reported that staff immediately brought the student to the principal’s office, where a school resource officer searched the student’s backpack and did not find a weapon. The district also informed the parents of the students involved.
Parents say the district informed the rest of the parents and the public of the investigation around 8:30 that evening, but many had already learned of the threat through a community Facebook page.
“I just feel like I can't send my kids to a school where we can't trust the faculty to keep us informed on what's going on,” said Wilson.
“I was like, ‘Oh, so now you want to notify the parents of the incident that happened,’” said parent Georgia Hiltz. “They're really trying to just say that it was not a big issue.”
Hiltz plans to homeschool her child with Wilson after unenrolling her child from school.
“I know of a few other parents in town that have pulled their children as well or plan on pulling them,” said Hiltz.
Most parents are choosing to keep their children in school, but parent Shawnee Bartley worries that her child will continue to attend with the student that was investigated.
“I need to know for my own child when this student's coming back to school, I'm under the impression he got nothing,” said Bartley. “He just got to come back to school Monday like everybody else.”
Roundup School District Superintendent Josiah Mayfield did not confirm if the student would continue attending the school.
“School districts are guided by FERPA laws,” said Mayfield. “We are not authorized to disclose that type of information.”
Mayfield defended the district’s choice to wait to inform parents of the investigation.
“The threat was not credible,” said Mayfield. “The release was set out when we were ready to communicate what we needed to communicate.”
“We are always actively looking to improve what we do. And so, I would hope that people would find confidence in that in the small-town nature of Roundup that we are in direct communication with a variety of people in town in order to continually update our policies and procedures and to train our people appropriately for any possible threat.”
Even though a weapon was not found, many parents are calling for earlier communication from the school.
“I don't think that we would have gotten (a statement) if they weren't being publicly criticized on Facebook about it and the community wanting answers,” said Bartley.
“A threat like that should be a concern and parents' questions should be answered,” said Hiltz.
“What if he did have a gun? Would they tell us or would they not tell us?” said Wilson.
