Anonymous asked this question on 3/31/2000:

A student in my child's class has threatened to kill another student and blow up the school. The school knows about it and says they are handling the situation.The student had been suspended but has returned to class.All the kids are afraid of the girl. My daughter comes home everyday crying and telling me she is afraid.How do we handle this?Should we pull her out of school?This student has picked on my daughter as well as others on a weekly basis.We appreciate any advice,thank you., A student in my child's class has threatened to kill another student and blow up the school. The school knows about it and says they are handling the situation.The student had been suspended but has returned to class.All the kids are afraid of the girl. My daughter comes home everyday crying and telling me she is afraid.How do we handle this?Should we pull her out of school?This student has picked on my daughter as well as others on a weekly basis.We appreciate any advice,thank you.

hollyhopes gave this response on 3/31/2000:

Without knowing the ages of your daughter and her classmate, it is a little more difficult to understand the situation, however it is vital that you take a proactive response and stay determined to see that this child receives the help she needs. I can only tell you what I would do in your situation and hope that helps: 1. First, I would meet with the Principle of the school and warn him/her of what was coming next. 2. I would have a meeting with other parents who are in your daughter's class and make sure that everyone knows what the situation is. 3. I would contact the local Department of Children's Services and have all of the other parents call them also. 4. I would call the police and notify them. Make them fill out a complaint so that it is on record that you have reported this incident. Again, I would ask other parents to do the same thing. 5. I would rally with other parents and meet as a group with the school board and the superintendent of schools. 6. I would make it clear to everyone I talked to that I was concerned for my daughter's safety, but that I was also concerned for this child who obviously has serious emotional problems. 7. And, personally, I would talk to the girl's parents and try to figure out what in the world is going on! (I'm one of those weird people who goes straight to the source. I would honestly go out of concern for the child, but with a firmness that left no doubt in the family's mind that I was NOT someone to take lightly!) 8. If this child threatened my daughter again, I would go to Juvenile Court and take out a petition. 9. Most importantly, I would spend a lot of time with my daughter talking about this situation. I would encourage her to stand her ground without resorting to violence or meaness. When my girls were younger, we would role-play situations they were anxious about. First we would play the roles so that my daughter pretended to be the other child and I pretended to be my daughter. Then we played it the other way around. My girls are teenagers now and we still do this periodically, but they have both told me how helpful it is.

Best of Luck to you. I know this is a very frightening incident, but I don't think you should pull your daughter out of school. I think you should force the school to face the problem and deal with it.

Peace, Holly

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