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Rumor of gun has parents pulling kids from school
Some parents began pulling their students out of school late Thursday and Friday after a rumor -- which police have determined was unfounded -- swept through the junior high Thursday that a student was planning on bringing a gun to school.
The student identified in the rumors was interviewed by officers Thursday and then again, along with school officials, when he arrived at school again Friday morning. Based on those interviews and other aspects of their investigation, police determined the rumor was unfounded.
"The rumor was that one student had talked to another student who had heard of a threat," Officer Melanie Rhodes of the Mountain Home Police Department said. "And from there the rumors began to get distorted until there was a gun involved," and some of the rumors had been posted on a Myspace.com site. But, Rhodes said, it appeared no threat involving a gun had ever actually been made. And although the rumors were posted on the Myspace account, no threat had ever actually been made there police determined.
"We do take these things very seriously," said Rhodes, who added that resource officers were in the schools today in order to provide a heightened security presence as a precaution.
"There is no reason for parents to panic," Rhodes said. "This was just a rumor."
At the same time, she said, "we understand about parents wanting to take their kids out of school. We're OK with that.
"If your child came home and told you they'd heard something like that, they (parents) should be concerned."
Junior High Principal Ernie Elliott said the school was planning on a series of grade-level assemblies Friday. He said the students would be told that "we know there are some concerns out there," and to describe what had happened, while also discussing the problems of rumor mongering.
"The police have been involved and we've been on top of this every step of the way," he said, adding that "we're trying to ensure the rights and safety of all the students in the building."
Elliott did not have a count Friday morning on the number of students that had been withdrawn from class, but said he fully understood the concerns of those parents who had pulled their children from the school for the day. He added that none of those students would "be dinged attendance-wise. We want parents to be comfortable."
Officer Rhodes urged parents who still have questions about the matter to contact the police department (587-2101), or anyone who has any additional information "to feel comfortable about giving us a call about that as well."