Tipp school officials hear parents’ concerns
Some parents criticize timing and vagueness of automated message.
Meeting was scheduled to address the district’s handling of a possible threat reported after school hours one day last week.
Tipp City schools’ administrators and city police talked with Tippecanoe Middle School parents Tuesday about the district’s safety protocols and communications with the community about alleged threats and responses.
The meeting was scheduled to give parents an opportunity to share their concerns about the handling of a possible threat reported after school hours one day last week.
About three dozen parents attended the more than hour discussion that included several school and district administrators. Superintendent Gretta Kumpf said the purpose was to not only share information but to see what the district could do better by learning from the incident.
Some parents criticized the timing and vagueness of an automated phone message to parents sent out at Kumpf ’s request around 9:45 p.m. March 9. The call was made after the police department and others received numerous calls about rumors of what allegedly had occurred including comments on social media.
Middle School Principal Greg Southers said at the time of the call he “did not have any facts so I was very limited in what I could share.” Kumpf said “a lot of misinformation” in the community led to the call to make sure parents knew police were involved and an investigation was underway.
Southers and police Sgt. Chris Graham outlined for parents the steps that were taken according to the required school safety plan.
Southers explained that school officials were told a student visited an “inappropriate” site in a computer lab.
“This process is very fluid and may take an hour or a few days” Southers said, adding later some students were being interviewed as late as Monday.
Some of the parents said a lack of information contained in the call heightened their concern about sending their children to school the following morning. Others said the added
police presence and having all staff on hand when students arrived the next morning was reassuring for them and their children.
Southers and Kumpf emphasized that the investigation involved talking with the student making the initial allegation and the student’s parent, checking a school computer — on which nothing inappropriate was found — and meeting with the accused student and parents.
Clay Lavercombe, assistant Middle School principal, said the “situation has been handled appropriately ... and that is what we can tell you per privacy laws.”
He added later that the computer search found “nothing to do with weapons ... violence. There was nothing.”
Parents also expressed concern about a lack of follow-up with students Friday and beyond, sought more information on protocol regarding threats and suggested developing plans for communicating via the school website following an automated call.