MESSAGE FROM MR. BUNCH

Parents/Guardians, I ask for a favor – please take a little time and communicate with your student on the significance of threats.

We take the safety of students and faculty very seriously.  In this sense, “we” includes all Hamblen County Department of Education (HCDOE) employees and all local law enforcement agencies.

Since we returned from break, we are seeing an increase in verbal threats.  We are also seeing increased activity on social media that approach the spread of these threats or do spread these threats.

If we receive an allegation of a threat, we immediately take action and involve local law enforcement.  Even if the student later tries to explain the threat away as a joke or they weren’t serious, we treat anything of this nature seriously.

The HCDOE policy dealing with these type activities falls under policy 6-3091, “Terroristic Threats”.  I encourage you to review the policy at https://1drv.ms/w/s!Au-raUImzCXEgfoGcWL84W9MlZgIcw.  The policy calls for discipline up to extended expulsion for making a threat or disseminating a threat.  Each case is looked at on its own merits, but this is the policy that guides each Principal’s disciplinary considerations.

While I have given you the District aspect of discipline, you also need to be aware law enforcement can and has filed charges against students for making threats.  Again, law enforcement takes this very seriously.  So, these activities can quickly move from just a school discipline issue to a legal matter.

I encourage you to sit down with your student and have a discussion.  I want all of our students to be aware of the policy addressing threats, the legal aspects associated with any threat, responsible use of social media, and how seriously we take every one of these allegations.  I also want you to encourage them to reach out to someone at their school and/or you if they hear anything (this is also part of policy 6-3091).  If they see or hear something, we need them to say something.

We take student and faculty safety very seriously, and I ask for your help in communicating this information with your student.

Thank you for your time & consideration

Arnie

Superintendent Hamblen County Schools