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Parents were furious at a recent school board meeting in Kentucky after a student who allegedly wrote a “kill list” was allowed to return to school.
A number of infuriated parents on Thursday railed against the decision to permit the 14-year-old back on campus at Conner High School in the town of Hebron, citing safety concerns for their own children, according to FOX 19.
“As a father of a child on the active kill list, my statements will reflect my opinions based on the information I received from Conner High School,” father Rob Bidleman said at the meeting. “When I received a call from the principal, it was emotionally devastating. All I could think about was my child in danger when they did nothing wrong.”
The student was accused of making threats against other classmates last year when he was in middle school. He was charged and initially kicked out of school, but was allowed to start attending high school this month.
A school resource officer was notified in November 2021 of a notebook containing specific acts of violence that identified individual students, according to police.
The officer interviewed the student, who admitted to writing what was discovered in the notebook. He claimed he was “merely writing the thoughts down that were in his head,” police said.
The Conner High School principal’s son was reportedly among those threatened.
“The principal’s own son was on this child’s list of death threats,” mother Jenny Murray said at Thursday’s board meeting. “As dedicated and hard-working as he is — how is he not distracted by stress and anxiety, knowing that his son could be in danger?”
The student will be allowed back on school grounds beginning Wednesday.
“It doesn’t make sense, and you don’t have to have a degree in psychology to figure this out. Why would you put a child back into an environment where he possibly could act out?” father Jim Kruspe said.
School Superintendent Matthew Turner wrote to the school community on Friday that every child has the right to an education, citing the Kentucky state constitution.
“The safety of our students and staff is our greatest priority when making district decisions,” he wrote, according to WLWT. “We also partner in decision making with experienced legal counsel. With the assistance of the Boone County Sheriff’s Department, our School Resource Officers, as well as the District Safety team, I can assure you all appropriate safety measures have been taken and are in place. Conner High School remains a safe school.”