District 41 apologizes for not communicating about threats

Glen Ellyn District 41 leaders are apologizing for the way they handled two recent incidents at Hadley Junior High School - one involving written threats and the other a student carrying a knife.

Administrators sent a note to parents on Thursday admitting they didn't follow proper protocol in handling either of the events that occurred earlier this month.

"We acknowledge that we did not do our best on this," Superintendent Ann Riebock said. "We'll make every effort not to repeat that."

On March 6, a threatening message that named four students was found on a bathroom wall after school was out for the day. Parents of the four students were contacted, and Riebock said administrators talked to the students to see if anyone was angry or upset with them.

So far, the person who wrote the threats has not been found.

On the morning of March 9, a student with a knife strapped to his calf displayed it in class. The school staff confiscated the knife and took disciplinary action, Riebock said.

Police weren't contacted until later in the day, however. That also was the first time school officials told police about the March 6 threats.

Although the parents directly involved in both cases were contacted, others in the school community were not told what was happening. That led to speculation when the news started to spread, Riebock said.

"We thought that the matter had been handled very privately with the school staff, and yet you forget that people share things in the community," Riebock said. "This truly was our error. I assume full responsibility."

If proper procedure had been followed in both cases, the police would have been called immediately and an e-mail would have been sent to parents as soon as pertinent information was available, Riebock said.

Although she didn't want to identify where exactly the procedure fell apart for the two incidents at Hadley, Riebock said she has been talking to all the district's principals to make sure a communication breakdown doesn't happen again.