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A mother of a child in the Minot Public School District said her daughter was verbally threatened by another elementary student last spring and is now upset that the district placed the two children in the same class for the coming school year.
"He told her to come here and (he) said, ' I want to kill all the black people (in the school),' " said the woman, whom the Minot Daily News has chosen not to identify to protect the identities of the two children. Her daughter is black.
The girl's mother said a school administrator told her that her daughter could go to another school in the district if she felt unsafe in the same classroom as the boy. However, the other child was not asked to switch schools. The girl's parents decided to enroll her in a fifth-grade class at a different Minot elementary for this school year, but both she and her parents have been upset by the way the district handled their concerns. The family spoke with the building principal, the superintendent and a school board member.
According to the mother, the other child, who is also now a fifth-grader, also told her daughter on April 20 that he wanted to find out where she lives and kill her. The girl's family reported the incident to police as well as to school officials. The mother said police took a report but that the boy was apparently not formally cited in juvenile court. He did send a written letter of apology to the girl's house, but the mother said it didn't seem sincere. The mother said she does not know what race the boy is or whether he might have special needs that affected his behavior or which the school district must consider before disciplining students. The mother said she is primarily concerned about what he said and the effect the threat has had on her daughter.
The woman said school officials told her earlier in the summer that the two children would be in separate classrooms this fall but now there is only one class section at that school. When her parents received information about room assignments for the coming fall, the girl and the boy she said threatened her had been placed in the same classroom.
The mother said her daughter has cried over the school placement decision, feels let down by her building principal and said the principal didn't stand up for her.
The girl's mother said she would like the policy regarding this sort of occurrence in the school district to be changed and will consider approaching Minot school board members. She said no child should be forced to be in the same classroom as another student who has made a terroristic threat against her. The girl's parents have also considered obtaining a restraining order against the boy.
Tracey Lawson, assistant superintendent, said in a statement Wednesday that the district cannot comment on individual students.
"The School District is unable to comment on matters concerning any specific students because the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) prevents us from doing so," said Lawson. "The School District takes the education of each and every student very seriously. Please understand that the School District is required and will continue to follow its policies, procedures and the law when handling student disciplinary matters."