Santa Fe ISD’s response to threat assailed
Parents question district’s handling of Snapchat message to football players
Nine days before a 17-year-old Santa Fe High School student allegedly opened fire and killed eight classmates and two substitute teachers, Shad Cundiff’s son learned someone wanted him dead.
Another student, who was not the eventual shooter, had sent a Snapchat message saying he would have a “surprise” for Cundiff’s son and two other football players in coming days. The student also told a female friend he intended to stab the boys at school, a threat so convincing the young woman told school administrators.
The school district’s handling of the incident and concerns, however, has left Cundiff and some other parents of Santa Fe High School football players frustrated. He said he learned of the threat from his son the day after it was reported to school officials.
“The school never called me” about the threat, Cundiff said. “If the school knows there’s a threat against my son, it has the responsibility to tell me this. While my son is in class, it’s the school’s responsibility to protect my son. Out of class, it’s my re-
sponsibility to protect him. But if they know of a threat and don’t tell me, how can I do that?”
Cundiff and the other parents say Santa Fe ISD did little to address their concerns about the threat before the shooting and continued to be dismissive of their requests for additional security a month and a half later. Most recently, parents said Santa Fe ISD’s police department refused to station an officer at the high school’s field house during summer football workouts until they raised a ruckus on social media.
Santa Fe ISD’s police department wrote in a Facebook post Thursday that it already had a plan to have an officer present during strength training sessions this week and that “misinformation” had been spread regarding the May 9 threat and subsequent social media postings.
Police Chief Walter Braun said the investigation into the May 9 threat was closed but he could not comment because the student involved is under the age of 18. Asked about the police department’s response to parents’ concerns and requests for additional security at the field house, he referred a reporter to Santa Fe ISD Assistant Superintendent for Human Resources and Public Relations Patti Hanssard.
“Our SFISD Police Department is hiring additional police officers and campus security assistants to help increase security presence and monitoring on all Santa Fe campuses beginning immediately,” Hanssard wrote in an email. “Part of the improvements to the district’s safety and security plan is to have a police officer present during summer strength training sessions, as well as other summer activities.”
Hanssard said she could not comment further on the May 9 case due to student privacy laws.
Still, some parents wondered why the field house was left without law enforcement protection for the first three weeks of summer football workouts, which began on June 11. Chrissy Scalise, whose son is on the football team but was not mentioned in the original threat, said she kept her son home and went by the field house on June 26 to see how it was secured.
She said she was able to walk through the building’s main hallway, down another hallway, through a weight room and out to the field, where students and coaches were practicing. Although the coaches seemed vigilant, Scalise said no security officials were standing guard.
“I don’t understand why the school didn’t have officers there,” Scalise said. “They knew all of this stuff; they should have had it secured.”
In a previous interview with the Chronicle, Braun said the May 9 threat, as well as eight other threats logged by the police department between January and May 18, were not related to the mass shooting. On Monday, he said he could not elaborate on any actions taken against the student because the May 9 case involved a juvenile.
According to Santa Fe ISD board policy and the Texas Penal Code, students found to have made a terroristic threat that places “any person in fear of imminent serious bodily injury” could be charged with a Class B misdemeanor, which carries a maximum sentence of 180 days in jail and a $2,000 fine. Board policy says students found to have made a threat could be expelled or temporarily sent to an alternative school.
Santa Fe ISD’s policy on bullying, which includes threats, also states that school administrators must notify a victim’s parents on or before the third business day after a bullying or threatening allegation. Administrators must “promptly notify the parents” if a bullying incident is confirmed. Cundiff said he never got a call from the school, and when he called an administrator for more information, he was told there was no threat against his son.
“They never mentioned anything about the threat,” Cundiff said. “They said my son witnessed an issue between two other kids and that he was not involved or implicated and had been forthcoming.”
When Cundiff learned of the Snapchat threat and contacted Santa Fe ISD police, he said an officer was dismissive and discouraged him from filing charges. He said the school refused to broker a meeting between Cundiff and the threatening student’s parents, citing liability concerns.
While the original threat against three football players had parents on edge, a comment posted beneath a YouTube video the day of the shooting sent some into a panic. It named 49 Santa Fe High football players, including Cundiff’s son and Chris Stone, who was killed in the shooting. Cundiff said FBI agents told him the comment was posted by the same student who threatened his son nine days before the shooting. It called those listed “future date rapists” and said they bullied the shooter.
An FBI spokesman said he could not comment on the May 9 threat or the May 18 shooting at the high school.
Santa Fe ISD said in a July 5 Facebook post that it could not take action regarding “a posting that made a derogatory remark about the boys” because it technically had not threatened any students.
The comment concerned a larger group of football parentswho wanted an officer to be stationed at the field house during summer workouts. They said Santa Fe ISD police officials refused until parents complained on social media. Rosie Y. Stone, Chris Stone’s mother, said she offered to pay $35 an hour to station an officer at the field house but was told the paperwork required to do so would be too onerous.
“I was very upset about it. They wouldn’t take a donation, and we were willing to pay money donated to us to get these kids security,” Stone said. “Not even a few hours a later, they said they had something in place.”
Neither Braun nor Hanssard would comment on how the decision was reached to place an officer in the field house.
Cundiff said when he went to drop off his son at the school early Monday, both Braun and another officer were standing guard outside.
“It took a lot of effort just to get someone over there,” Cundiff said. “It shouldn’t have taken that much effort.”