2 teachers quiet when student threatened to shoot up school

Two Broward teachers each face a one-day suspension after district officials say they failed to promptly report a student’s threat to shoot up their school.

Social studies teacher Kenneth Miller, 67, and science teacher N’Kenge Rawls, 41, face suspensions for an incident that happened in early October at Whiddon-Rogers Education Center, an alternative school in Fort Lauderdale for students with academic problems.

According to a district complaint, Miller overheard students talking Oct. 1 in his fourth-period class about a boy who wanted to shoot students at the school, but he didn’t alert his administrators or police.

When an administrator asked Miller why he didn’t report it, he said: “Oh yeah. I guess I should have reported it. I made a mistake,” the complaint alleges.

Rawls heard students in her seventh-period class discuss the possible threat the next day, Oct. 2, but waited until 11:50 p.m., nearly 10 hours after school ended, to send a text message to her assistant principal, the complaint says.

The school conducted a threat assessment on the student the following day, Oct. 3, the complaint said. There’s no indication the student tried to carry out the threat.

“When questioned regarding the delay in reporting the threat, Rawls stated she did not think the threat was serious,” the complaint says.

A written statement from Rawls said she had asked some students on Oct. 2 if they knew why someone in the class was absent. The students said their classmate was staying home out of fear, because another student had talked about shooting up the school, she wrote.

“I unfortunately was distracted by something going on in the classroom and consequently did not report the threat until later on in the evening to my assistant principal,” Rawls wrote.

Neither Miller nor Rawls could be reached for comment by phone or email Sunday and Monday.

The School Board is scheduled to vote on the two suspensions Tuesday. Both teachers plan to appeal the suspensions to a state administrative law judge.

Miller has been with the district since 1981 and makes $76,956. A district complaint says he was disciplined once before, receiving a reprimand in 2007 “for inappropriate conduct for making physical contact with a student.”

Rawls makes $42,000 and has been with the school district since 2003. The complaint does not list any prior discipline.