Boca-area school trying to bar ex-student
WEST PALM BEACH — In a sign of the times, administrators at the Donna Klein Jewish Academy have gone to court to bar a former student from the sprawling campus west of Boca Raton, claiming he has threatened the school in obscenity-laced posts on social media.
Raising the prospect of another Parkland-style massacre, school officials last week filed court papers, asking Palm Beach County Judge Edward Garrison to issue a temporary injunction, barring former student Jared Reichenbach from the campus south of Glades Road and just east of U.S. 441.
After reading their allegations that Reichenbach scared them with posts such as “this is where school shooters get birthed” and sharing photos of ammunition and grenades on Instagram, Garrison scheduled a hearing on May
9 to consider the school’s request.
However, Reichenbach insisted last week, it’s all a giant misunderstanding.
The 20-year-old Boynton Beach resident acknowl- edged he’s still angry with school administrators who expelled him in November 2016 for what they called “inappropriate behavior” and violations of school rules. But, he insisted, he has no intention of harm- ing anyone.
“They’re making up lies like I was going to shoot up the school or something,” Reichenbach, a senior at Boynton Beach High School, told The Palm Beach Post. “I can’t even kill a spider with- out crying about it.”
He admitted he posted vicious messages after he was kicked out. “Kill me,” he wrote in one post the school used to illustrate why they want him blocked from campus. In another, he wrote: “I’m not taking them out so they don’t ruin other people’s lives. I’m selfless here. I will make sure the corrupt and incompetent are removed from staff. Only then will I beat peace, knowing every - one’s lives are safe .” In the wake of the Feb. 14 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Reichen- bach said he could see why such digital missives would worry Donna Klein administrators. But, he said, he posted the rants more than a year ago when the emotional wounds from his expulsion were still fresh.
“They’ve been making up a lot of stuff about me ever since,” Reichenbach said. “It’s crazy. Crazy.”
The more recent photos he posted of ammuni- tion, grenades, a knife and a sword have nothing to do with the school, he said. He put the photos on Instagram to help a neighbor, a World War II veteran, sell them to raise cash.
Reichenbach said he suspects students at Donna Klein who don’t like him altered the photos, removing captions he wrote that clearly explained the items were for sale. “A lot of kids at that school don’t like me,” he said.
Palm Beach County Sher- iff’s Office officials, who would respond to any prob- lems at the school, didn’t respond to a request for com- ment about whether they are investigating Reichenbach’s online activity. Reichenbach said “cops” visited his house and looked at the photos of the weapons he posted on his Instagram account.
He remembered them saying, “I don’t know why we’re here,” before leaving. They had only been given photos of the weapons, not his online rants against the school, he said.
In an email, school officials declined comment about their allegations against Reichenbach. “Unfortu- nately, we are unable to discuss matters relating to pending litigation,” wrote Matt Franzblau, the school’s communications director. Attorney Gregory Starr, who filed the request for the tem- porary injunction, didn’t return a phone call or email for comment.
Criminal defense attor- ney Franklin Prince, who’s unconnected to the case, said he was baffled by the school’s action. If Garrison grants the school’s request for a temporary injunction, the school could have Reichenbach arrested if he subsequently shows up on campus. But, Prince said, as a private school, they could ask police to charge Reichenbach with trespassing if he was found on school grounds.
“If the kid is going to do something crazy, an injunction isn’t going to stop him,” Prince said.
But, he said, the school’s request is a sad commentary on the current state of affairs. “What’s our world coming to when schools are trying to get injunctions against children that didn’t graduate?” he asked.