Parents blast school system failure to communicate
Business, News September 24, 2018
DAHLONEGA, Ga. – “What we’ve got here is failure to communicate.”
Parents and students say that memorable line from the 1960s movie Cool Hand Luke fits the Lumpkin County School System like a glove.
Angry parents and students launched a scathing social media attack on the school system’s administration last week, saying it failed to warn them about an alleged threat against the high school. Most said they were completely in the dark until their children told them about it after school.
A Lumpkin County High School student reported to administrators on the morning of Thursday (Sept. 20) that he overheard another student threaten to harm the school. But parents say no robo call was issued and nothing was posted on the school system’s Facebook page until many hours later.
When the school system finally did issue a press release, the message was intentionally misleading and extremely condescending.
Here is what the school system posted on its Facebook page:
“Today a Lumpkin County High School student alleged that another LCHS student made a threat to harm the school. Law enforcement and school administrators took swift action to isolate the student in question and to conduct a thorough investigation.
“Conclusion: There is no evidence that a threat was ever made. Rumors perpetuated on social media have caused concern in our community, so we wanted to share the facts.”
That conclusion is simply not true. Lumpkin County Sheriff Stacy Jarrard said his office was not informed about the alleged threat until he began getting calls from parents Thursday evening and he did not start an investigation until the next day.
Parents would argue the school system’s assertion that “Rumors perpetuated on social media have caused concern in our community” is condescending and an attempt to silence their legitimate complaints.
A greater concern is a school superintendent and school board that refuses to listen to their complaints or take them seriously. Some have cited the school board’s failure to attend its own public hearing on the tax increase last month as evidence their elected school board members are not listening to them.
Here is what angry parents and students said about the school system’s failure to warn them of a potential threat:
Makayla Cantrell posted this. “As a student at Lumpkin County High School, I feel like this situation is not being handled seriously. Me and a few of my friends brought it to administrators’ attention and some said, ‘He seems too nice to do something like that.’ I told another administrator I was scared and didn’t feel safe because what if this actually happens and I was told, ‘Oh yeah what if the sun don’t come up in the morning.’ This makes me feel like they are just brushing it off their shoulder and making it out as we as students are making a huge deal out of it. Which I think it is a pretty big deal because things like this actually happen. It also makes students not want to tell administrators because things aren’t being taken seriously. Parents should have been informed as soon as they heard about it. All they are worried about is drugs and vapes and not realizing what kind of threats are being made and what kind of environment they have us in. I really don’t feel safe at school with these kinds of threats being made. Social media is blowing up with it because students are looking out for fellow classmates because no one was being informed with anything and we have the right to know what is going on in our school environment. (Punctuation corrected).”
Marissa Dustin Allen posted this. “Threats were made on a student’s life last year in the form of text messages from one student to another and when it was brought to the LCHS Principal’s attention, he laughed and joked about it as if nothing happened. Completely swept under the rug. Just like a bunch of other stuff that has happened within the past year. Doesn’t look like anything is changing anytime soon.”
Axa Spencer posted this. “Parents should not have found out through Facebook or our kids at 10 at night when this happened at around 11to 12 lunch yesterday. The school needs a system for communications with parents not Facebook. It creates mass panic that way. What next, we see it on TV before we know? It’s just not fair and it’s not right. Parents, we need to expect timely answers about what’s happening and let the parent make the decision what they want to do with their child. (Punctuation corrected).”
Joey n McKinzey posted this. “This is nothing to play with. The school should have done an all call today when they found out so us parents could be informed.”
Superintendent Dr. Robert Brown is responsible for the day-to-day operation of the schools. It would be easy to blame this failure to communicate at his doorstep alone. However, the buck does not stop there. Brown serves at the pleasure of the school board and board members are elected by the people. If the people’s anger persists into the next election, expect a lot of new faces on the board.
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16 Comments
They don’t have a robo call system in place?
Hi Wendy and thank you for reading Fetch Your News. The school claims it did make a robo call. However, my sources tell me that if that is true that it was not done until many hours after school was dismissed for the day and students had gone home. Not cool.
I received my robo call on Friday, September 21, 2018 at 6:17pm.
Thank you for reading Fetch Your News Jennifer. The alleged threat occurred Thursday morning. That would have been the time for schools to issue the robocall.
Hi Wendy and thank you for reading Fetch Your News. The school claims it did issue a robo call but I have yet to hear from a parent who received one. My sources tell me the school did not issue a robo call OR if it did, it was in the evening many hours after the incident had ended and students had gone home.
This is what happens when people aren’t held accountable for past actions. He set the precedent last school year when he didn’t inform the parents about the school walkout. He thinks he doesn’t have to inform the parents now because they allowed him to walk on his past indiscretion. I predict he will not be going anywhere because the people are too cowardly to have him fired. The people that hired him should be held accountable too.
Jay, thank you for reading Fetch Your News. It does seem to be a pattern of sweeping things under the rug that might reflect in a negative way on the school system.
I have placed calls this morning to Dr. Brown and was told he will not be available to speak. I was directed to another staff member who did not answer his phone. A VM was left but as of yet, I have not been called back.
The previous school superintendent I had found to have been very accessible and willing to listen. The previous school administrators seemed to be encouraged to openly communicate with parents in a very timely manner when safety issues arose. That has definitely NOT been my experience however, since Dr. Brown’s appointment as Superintendent.
The call that was made was received at 5:21 pm on Friday 9/21 at our home. It is completely unacceptable to think parents did not need to be notified until the evening after the reported event was supposed to take place. The school system failed the community in a very large way on this event, and by reading the comments of others, it appears that some intervention is well in order. My children have reported that many students were absent on Friday, in their estimation attendance was only near 50%. Evidently, the attendance at the middle school was also greatly affected by reports I have heard.
I am calling for an investigation into the handling of this matter, and the above referenced incidents where students were turned away after reporting their concerns. We cannot simply say that safety is important. See Something, Say Something is a national safety program that encourages everyone to be vigilant and report their concerns, especially school children. If the facts of an investigation demonstrate a systematic failure to adequately provide the proper safety of our most precious resource, then I would hope the elected board will act accordingly. If not, I suspect there will be a larger turn out at the next election, and new faces sitting at the Board.
In closing, I would like to take a moment to thank Sheriff Jarrard, his deputies, and the GSP for mobilizing such a large presence at and around the high school on Friday morning. I would further like to commend our Sheriff for recognizing the significance of the situation, and initiating a criminal investigation. I have always found Sheriff Jarrard (and his staff) to be extremely responsive to any community concerns, and his dedication does not go unnoticed.
Hello Brian and thank you for your comments. So far, I haven’t located anyone who received a robo call from the school. Was the call you received at 5:21 p.m. Friday a robo call? Was it from the high school or School Superintendent? I also agree with your comment regarding the Lumpkin County Sheriff’s Office. I’ve been a reporter for more than 20 years and it is one of the very best I have ever dealt with.Thank you again for reading Fetch Your News.
I agree with Brian Gary . These people need to be replaced . ” See something , say something ” and the students need to be protected , their concerns shouldn’t be dismissed .
Thank you for reading Fetch Your News Linda. Did you receive a robo call from the school? When?
I also recieved a robo call on Friday at 5:21 but that was 30 hours after the incident occurred. I was told by my daughter that it was a special needs student that was being accused of making the statement and that was the reason for it being so lightly handled by the school system and law enforcement. Unfortunately sometimes these things just happen and there isn’t always gonna be the perfect explanation to give to the parents that are demanding these answers . I am a parent also and I completely understand everyone’s frustration but under the circumstances what could we honestly really expect from Mr Brown when all he was really trying to do was avoid creating a county wide panic over nothing ?
No robocall went out. No school shut down while the law investigated. The law wasn’t even notified. Just a Facebook post at 9pm.
You should inquire how many of us kept our kids home the following day. That was the consequence to their decision to handle it this way.
I also agree with Mr. Brian Gary. The robo call was the day after the post on lcss facebook after the incident happened well after that school day. The school system seems to try to place the blame on students with this one stating rumors on social media caused the panic.. the panic was brought on by that fact no parent was called that day they had to find out by their child. Even if the threat was just rumor people deserve to know about that threat the moment it happens. No one should just brush these things off these things happen all the time unfortunately. All threats should be taken seriously.
Thank you for reading Fetch Your News Emily.
I have seen first hand the attitudes of the principal & superintendent and it is not good. Their opinions are the only ones that “count”.
They make up their minds without “listening” to others. Those others have only the students needs and programs in mind. Many people in Lumpkin have great ideas, let’s not let personal power at the top of of the school system go amok.