Any concerned citizens of Wishek, please call the school and ask for a public meeting. We deserve to be informed and public safety needs to be a priority.
Nathan and I have emailed, called and then met with the elementary principal and superintendent today. We then took our kids home with us. We both have spoken to our school board president with our concerns. Our children need to know their school, home and church are safe. I do not trust the school administrators to put my children’s safety first any longer. Because they didn’t yesterday.
A weapon was brought to the Wishek school yesterday. It doesn’t matter what and how it is classified which is now being investigated by lawyers and law enforcement. Intervention and help were needed yesterday. Our school administration sat silent.
The student was sent home with parents and the weapon was given back to the parents by the school administration.
No call to law enforcement.
No police report.
No call to social services.
No lock-down.
No checking other backpacks for other weapons.
The school board wasn’t informed at their public meeting last night.
They did not notify parents or staff.
In this situation, err on the side of caution. Over-communicate. Call. Notify.
Zero communication breeds panic. It happened in the last 24 hours in our small town. Chaos could have been avoided with communication. Instead, the school administration went home like any other day last night while our kids told us bits and pieces of a story and parents started making calls and piecing it together last night and this morning. We wouldn’t have known otherwise.
This has nothing to do with friendships. This is public safety and trust. We need a public meeting. We need action to make sure our students and staff are safe in our school. We need a protocol, process, and policy and even that doesn’t alone protect from violence.
Call and email:
Wishek School: 701-452-2995, or email Shawn.Kuntz@k12.nd.us.
Wishek School Board email addresses:
- Curt Meidinger, cpm@bektel.com
- Melissa Kaseman-Wolf, mkasemanwolf@gmail.com
- Trina Schilling, bltakids@bektel.com
- Bruce Herr, brucebherr@hotmail.com
- Dynette Ketterling, kd@bektel.com
I am turning comments off on this post. This is my personal blog and I do not wish for this to be a platform for public debates in the comments. It should happen at a public meeting led by school administration and elected school board members where you can ask questions and get honest answers.