Volusia County School Board members and schools superintendent Carmen Balgobin spoke publicly for the first time on the uptick in threats of school violence district-wide and across the nation at last week's board meeting.
In recent weeks, schools have been placed on hold, students have been arrested and the district has made international news because local Sheriff Mike Chitwood released a mugshot and perp-walk video of an 11-year-old student accused of making threats to shoot up two Port Orange middle schools.
Law enforcement officers and school officials already expressed their concern and frustration at a press conference Sept. 13, which addressed the influx in false threats this school year and laid out potential consequences for such behavior. But their meeting, the superintendent and board members spoke directly to parents and students.
Balgobin initiated the conversation as part of her opening announcements, reminding the community that safety and security is a top priority for the district.
“It's not a privilege, it's a right,” she said. “Every student under our care and every staff member that has signed up to work for Volusia County has a right every single day to feel safe in their work environments or in their learning environments.”
Balgobin reported that in one weekend alone, her team investigated 36 threats.
“There are a number of activities that we are engaging in district-wide that are preventative in nature, but also, we'll react. We will follow that code of conduct, and we will follow it to a T. There will be no exceptions,” she said. “Sometimes when a threat is made, you will always hear throughout the investigation process … ‘That was not the intent. It was supposed to be a joke.’ But unfortunately, when you look at incidences outlined in our code of conduct, we are not supposed to determine what the intent is. It's always the outcome.”
Mike Micallef, the district’s executive director of grad assurance and student services, said there is a zero-tolerance policy for any type of major campus threat that involves a gun, harming students or anything that is “premeditated” in nature.
He confirmed at the meeting that students in violation will participate in off-campus instruction either at home or an alternative district site for a full year.
“That's a consistent, across the board, zero-tolerance (standard) with the threat,” Micallef said. “These are major serious threats of students who are making the threats, getting arrested by the sheriff's department.”
Balgobin thanked students for following the tip line and reminded parents to intervene and have conversations with their children.
“I care about this community, I care about our kids, I care about their safety, and I care about every staff member,” she said. “And I'm asking you to please engage with me actively as we do this work together.”
Volusia County School Board members address school safety
Board member Ruben Colón said false threats are having a tangible impact with negative consequences, even for students who aren’t participating in swatting.
“These kids are terrorizing our community,” he said. “They are bringing in doubt. They are bringing in discomfort. They’re causing trauma to their peers.”
Jessie Thompson said parents are responsible for having conversations with their children, specifically noting that she talks with her 10- and 7-year-old children about what topics are appropriate for school.
“As parents, I think we really do have to take responsibility for this and have these conversations with our children because at the end of the day, they are our children,” she said.
Chair Jamie Haynes echoed this, saying parents are equally to blame for their students’ actions.
“You need to talk to your children, and if you have any form of weapons in your home, they need to be locked up and put away where your children do not have access to them,” she said, “because once they have access to them, you’re at fault just as much as the student.”
Carl Persis added parents should also be monitoring what their children are seeing and posting on social media.
“Parents, we need your help,” he said. “Let's do everything we can so that law enforcement can spend time doing the things that they really need to be doing, and not tracking down these ridiculous threats.”
Vice Chair Anita Burnette thanked everyone who has reported potential threats or spoken up when they’ve seen something, even if it’s “tough” or requires going against their own child.
“It takes a lot of courage for somebody to do that,” she said.
