North Penn School District officials admit they could have better handled the student-on-student assault in the Pennbrook Middle School cafeteria last month.
But at a school safety committee meeting Tuesday, Superintendent Todd Bauer said misinformation about the attack that left a middle school girl seriously injured has been circulating the community.
During the two hour meeting, Bauer and staff also reviewed what steps the district has taken since the attack, and what steps are planned in the near future.
Here are five things that came out of the meeting:
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Some students were held in lockdown after incident was over
District officials initially reported the duration of the incident, including a school-wide hold — which keeps students in place — lasted eight minutes, but some students reported it was closer to a half-hour. An internal review of surveillance video, radio transmissions and interviews found that Pennbrook Principal Nick Taylor called the hold at 1:27 p.m. and the hold was released at 1:33 p.m.
But the announcement releasing the hold was not heard by staff in the cafeteria where the seventh-graders were held, Bauer said.
Those students were released at 1:51 p.m or 25 minutes later, he said. The district has not determined the reason that no one heard the announcement in the cafeteria, but an investigation is underway to fix the issue and make sure multiple alert systems are available, Bauer added.
Privacy laws mean some information won’t be public
School districts are governed by state and federal laws that limit what information can be publicly released about students including discipline, Bauer said.
The discipline proceedings involving the student also have not yet occurred. School board solicitor Kyle Somers explained if the student is suspended or expelled, that specific consequence cannot legally be disclosed, but that staff can make it clear to family or a student victim that the situation has been addressed.
Bauer also explained the district is limited in what it can say publicly about the incident because the active investigation by the Upper Gwynedd police department.
Why did the school send out a form letter about the incident?
The district has faced criticism for the form letter used to notify parents, specifically its description of the attack as a “physical altercation,” which they felt minimized the incident.
Bauer acknowledged the use of the form letter, which was done to get information to parents quickly, was not the best idea, and that the district will be making changes to how it alerts parents in the future.
The district wants a comprehensive review of the incident
The district anticipates it will present a proposal to hire an outside agency to conduct an investigation which will be considered at the May school board meeting, Somers said.
The scope of the investigation will include the day of the incident and the events leading up to it; the investigation timeline could encompass hours, days, weeks or months, Somers said.
The administration has requested the board hire an investigation firm with no affiliations with the district, but the ultimate decision lies with the school board.
Here is what the committee didn't discuss at the meeting
District officials have not addressed reports that students and parents had alerted staff at Pennbrook the morning of April 17 with concerns about threats involving the suspected attacker.
Bauer said the school and district did not receive any tips about the threats through its Safe-To-Say system.
Officials also did not respond to widespread reports that the suspected attacker had a “hit list” or that the suspect has a long history of discipline problems in the district.
Reporter Jo Ciavaglia can be reached at jciavaglia@gannett.com
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