Following the recent mass shooting at a school in Florida, a number of schools throughout Montana have received threats of violence and Bitterroot Valley schools were no exception.
Threats against students and school staff at Darby schools on February 17 and later at Stevensville on the 23rd drew a swift response from school officials and local law enforcement and quickly led to involvement by the FBI. No one was injured and no violence occurred on either school campus in the unrelated cases. In each case, a student has been charged. Darby senior Maclean William Kayser was charged with assault with a weapon and a minor student at Stevensville has been charged with felony intimidation.
According to Darby School Superintendent Loyd Rennaker, he was made aware of some disturbing social media posts while at a tournament over the previous weekend. On Sunday, he met with High School Principal J.P. McCrossin, a parent and two students, and Darby law enforcement was called in. He said it was determined, with input from the school’s attorney, to implement discipline measures and “we made it clear to his parents that he was not to show up on campus or he would be arrested for trespassing.” Rennaker said at that time it was decided that school could go on as usual on Monday.
On Monday, after consulting with law enforcement and the school attorney, a message was phoned out to all parents on the school’s call-list informing them of the situation. More students were also interviewed on Monday and more disturbing information emerged.
“We learned about the incident in the hallway concerning red shirts and yellow shirts,” said Rennaker. “Students were told those who wore a red shirt would be safe.”
Rennaker said that these threats were made back on Tuesday, February 13. He said that most students thought it was a joke, but as the posts came out on social media they became more concerned and decided to bring the information forward.
Teacher meetings were convened on Monday and Tuesday and the teachers were all informed of the situation and on Tuesday, the student was taken into custody.
On Wednesday morning, a second threat to students and staff was posted on Snapchat. The student who received the Snapchat message took it to school authorities and told them she did not know who the sender was.
Both Darby law enforcement and Ravalli County Sheriff’s Office sprang into action and both arrived at the same conclusion in separate investigations. The message was sent from a phone located in a large city in California.
According to Darby Deputy John Ringer, it was determined that the phone had been in the same location for the last four days. Rennaker said on the basis of this information it was decided that school could be held on Thursday and Friday.
Rennaker noted that after the phone call went out to parents, 70% of the high school students and 40% of the elementary school students where checked out by their parents. Those who remained in school were brought into the main area of the building and closely supervised by the staff.
Sheriff Steve Holton told the large gathering of parents at the Darby middle school gym last Thursday, “If I thought for two seconds that this was a viable threat at this point, I would advise the Superintendent to close the school.” He said the suspect in the second threat had been located by authorities in California, but that the case was complicated by jurisdictional questions.
“We are at the mercy of other agencies at this point in the investigation because we don’t have jurisdiction in California,” said Holton. He said it was his intent to bring the suspect to the Bitterroot to answer the charges. But Darby Deputy John Ringer said that if the suspect turns out to be a minor that extradition from another state could prove very difficult.
Superintendent Rennaker said that some parents have wondered why the initial calls to parents were not made sooner.
He said, “The reason it took so long is because when we got here Wednesday morning we had to make sure with our attorney’s help and working with law enforcement that what we said was allowable. We did not want to violate anybody’s rights. We also didn’t want to share any information that we shouldn’t share. So I apologize if it was late.”
Asked by one parent what he would do to make sure that nothing like this would ever happen again, he said, “I don’t know, honestly. We don’t control Snapchat or social media, but we’ve learned about how to handle it and we will continue to take all threats seriously.”
A few parents urged the school to think about having a dedicated law enforcement presence at the school. Rennaker said that was something that would be on the table for discussion by the school board. A meeting was scheduled for Wednesday, February 28 at 6 p.m. in the school cafeteria at which the board will address the recent threats.
In a separate incident on Friday, February 23, according to Stevensville School District Superintendent Bob Moore, a student came forward to divulge a threat that she had heard.
“We isolated one student and called law enforcement immediately,” said Moore.
Moore said that there was never any imminent danger on the campus and no lockdown occurred. There was never any weapon involved. He said that law enforcement engaged one student on campus and another off campus and as a result one student who is a minor has been charged with felony intimidation.
According to a press release issued later in the day on the 23rd by Stevensville Police Chief James Marble, his department and the Ravalli County Sheriff’s Office and the Federal Bureau of Investigation worked in concert to investigate the incident and a juvenile male was arrested for felony intimidation. He stated there was no longer a perceived threat to the Stevensville Schools.
Moore said that the school district was trying to be proactive in addressing issues like this.
“We are educating and we are addressing the whole well-being of the students and staff,” said Moore. “Mental health issues, social issues and coping mechanisms, all these are more important now than ever. We have to be ever vigilant.”
According to Moore, the recent bond issue that was passed also addresses some really significant issues such as secure entranceways, locked doors and reducing the need for student cross-overs between buildings. He said emergency drills and protocols are constantly being updated and adapted to deal with evolving circumstances.
U.S. Senator Jon Tester just announced that he is taking action to increase mental health care resources at Montana’s public schools.
Following a study of Great Falls public school students that found 25 percent of high school students seriously considered committing suicide, Tester is pushing his colleagues in the Senate to fully fund the U.S. Department of Education’s Student Support and Academic Enrichment Grants to boost access to school-based counseling and mental health care services.
“Students across Montana are struggling to overcome the impacts of trauma, abuse, substance use, and endemic poverty in their families’ lives,” Tester wrote to his colleagues. “They bring these burdens with them into the classroom, where they then struggle to learn. Our public educators are dedicated to helping them overcome these struggles and succeed academically, but they need the resources in order to do so.”
Tester supported legislation in 2015 that authorized $1.6 billion annually for the Student Support and Academic Enrichment Grants. The grants are awarded to the state and then administered to local public school districts to increase student health resources like counseling and mental health care services.
However, since the legislation was signed into law, Congress has only appropriated $400 million annually for the grants—leaving many school districts without the access to the resources they need to hire more counseling and mental health professionals.
Earlier this month, Congress passed a new long-term budget, which could pave the way for funding increases at the Department of Education. Tester called on his colleagues to use this opportunity to fully fund Student Support and Academic Enrichment Grants.
“Significant funding increases for these grants could help our public schools meet their students’ mental health needs and give them the tools they need to succeed,” Tester added.
Tester also successfully fought this month to reauthorize and increase funding for Montana’s many Community Health Centers in the long-term budget, which are often the primary source of mental health care for children in rural communities.