Scotland County Schools and the Scotland County Sheriff’s Office have released a joint statement after a threat at Carver Middle School, saying in part, they have recognized a need for improvement in communication with parents, staff, and community members.
The statement from SCS Superintendent Ron Hargrave and SCSO Sheriff Ralph Kersey was posted on the district’s Facebook page on Wednesday evening.
“During this investigation, both the school system and the sheriff’s office recognize that one area of improvement is how we communicate with each other and with our parents, guardians, staff, and community. Please know that we both are committed to improving this process,” the statement reads. “Again, the school system and Sheriff’s Office are dedicated to ensuring that our schools remain safe and secure learning environments. We will both be reviewing our processes and will use this situation as a learning opportunity. We remain committed partners in education and thank you for the trust you continue to place in us with the education and safety of your children.”
“On Thursday, January 24, it was reported by two brave students to Carver’s administration that students had made threats online against students and staff at the school,” the statement also said. “Following policy and protocol, school administration immediately reported it to district administration and to law enforcement. School officials and the Sheriff’s Office investigators worked together to determine that there was no immediate physical threat to students or faculty.”
According to the statement, the sheriff’s office conducted a safety sweep of the school and declared it to be safe. An investigation continues and “the school system and Sheriff’s Office remain committed to ensuring the safety of students and staff.”
“Both the school system and Sheriff’s Office wanted to take the opportunity to clarify that there was never any ‘hit list’ that included any specific students’ names,” the statement also said. “The messages from the students did include the names of two staff members, but never any individual student names were mentioned.”
It was reported that the threat was to be carried out on January 25, adds the statement. After “preliminary investigations on Thursday,” the SCSO “determined that the threat had been eliminated from the school and that the school was safe for normal operation on Friday. Scotland County Schools and the Scotland County Sheriff’s Office would not have allowed school to be held on Friday if we had any indication that the campus was unsafe for students and staff.”
On Tuesday, Scotland County Schools released a statement in an email to News13, saying, in part:
Following policy and protocol, school administration immediately reported it to district administration and to law enforcement. Once reports such as these are turned over to law enforcement, they are in charge of the investigation. Detectives from the Scotland County Sheriff’s Department asked school officials not to release any information to the public about the incident while the investigation was on-going and until otherwise instructed. It was quickly determined that there was no immediate threat to students and staff, so as not to hamper the ongoing investigation, Scotland County Schools complied with law enforcement’s request and refrained from making any public comment.
The SCSO posted a contradiction to a statement made by the district that school officials were told not to release any information to the public on Facebook on Wednesday morning. This post read, in part:
“The Sheriff’s Office at no time, instructed any staff or member of the school board or school to refrain from informing parents or family, and at no time instructed the school to stop or prevent the staff members from taking further action such as ordering a lock down, or continuing in a safety sweep or inspection of the school.”
That post has since been removed.
A total of six students are now accused of creating a “hit list” of teachers and other students, along with allegedly plotting to carry out an active shooter situation at the school.
Officials with the Scotland County Sheriff’s Office said they believe the mass attack was not a hoax and would have happened if the planning had not been reported.
Parents of students at the middle school met Tuesday night with school officials to express their concern about how they were informed of the possible threat. Many said they wished Scotland County Schools gave them better notification about the threat.
“As long as there’s a potential for my child to get hit with a stray bullet, I’m concerned,” said one parent.
“I think that they have a lot of communication issues with the sheriff’s department they need to work out,” said Marion Locklear, who has a son at Carver Middle School.
On Monday, investigators said students identified a teacher and other students as targets in a threat at the school.
A sworn affidavit has been written up by law enforcement alleging the minor students committed the class h felony of communicating a threat of mass violence on education property, according to Lt. Jessica Sadonikov, with the Scotland County Sheriff’s Office. A judge was petitioned by law enforcement to go pick them up and take the juveniles into custody. They allegedly alluded to reenacting a Columbine scenario.