School death threats: 'I see a severe dropping of the ball'
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BANDON, Ore. -- Bandon police say some students at Ocean Crest Elementary School got death threats from another student for two months.
Authorities told KCBY News that a student had been passing death threats to other kids in notes from October to November of 2012.
Police say no official report was filed, but they were notified.
The principal of the school, Elizabeth Olive, says the student was disciplined, and school staff and police will be talking to all the kids about how serious the issue was.
One parent KCBY News spoke with is not happy about how he thinks the school handled it.
Dutch Hausler has an 8-year-old third grade student at the school, who he says got some of the notes. He says his daughter and several others received the threats on handwritten notes put in their desks, saying things like, "You're going to die," and "I'm going to kill you."
Dutch found out from his daughter this happened in late December and was shocked to learn the police had not been notified. "I was shocked, I was very shocked and I was also shocked that the police were not informed," he said. "I see a severe dropping of the ball, so to speak." He says he then went to the police and spoke at a school board meeting.
Although the school is now taking action, he says he is upset they didn't deal with it sooner. He says he thinks it may have to do with the student accused of writing the notes being the child of a school board member. "I just felt like it was swept under the rug because of this child's position, parent's position on the school board. No child should be above the law here," he said.
He's speaking out because he wants others to not be afraid to bring attention to red flags like this.
Olive says she is bringing the issue up at the next district meeting as well, but declined to do an on-camera interview.
This is a developing story, and will be updated throughout the day.
Thank you Susan! Well said. Let us not forget that we are talking about elementary school kids here! They don't need to get the police involved at that age but the school and the parents DO need to address this within the school. Having an elementary school kid arrested for threats and bullying is taking it too far. Perhaps we should take a hard look at this kids parents and living environment first. It's difficult to look in the mirror I know, or to admit that we looked the other way when the kid was crying out for help, but lets use this as an opportunity for growth and learning before we introduce the police into this at age 8 or 9.
This might be blown out of proportion. No one actually involved in the 'incident' was interviewed. How do we know what really happened?
 @Doubtful That's my dad and trust me it was not blown out of proportion. No punishment was given to the little boy other than being told not to do that again. If something had been done my dad wouldnt have felt the need to go to the news.
 @Doubtful death threats arent something to joke around about
Our school does not take threats seriously. My kids have had trouble with a high school boy and the school didn't do anything. and i do agree it has all do do with who your parents are.
Go dad!
we need to monitor threats as a good way to nip violence at the source.
"He says he thinks it may have to do with the student accused of writing the notes being the child of a school board member."
I think he pretty much hit the nail on the head with that one.
I went there many many years ago.
My child went from K-12 in Bandon schools. No one threatened her life. We are talking about 8 and 9 year olds here. The guilty child should be stopped and punished. They should be made to appoligize in front of the entire student body. Any child receiving one of these notes should be told to take it to their teacher a.s.a.p. Every parent needs to tell their children what they need to do if they get a note. This goes for all bullying issues. Keeping quiet gives the bully power.
My children have attended school in Bandon all of their lives, and this issue is nothing new. The "kids will be kids" and "its she said/he said" mentality is a huge problem with adults, not just school personnel, or law enforcement but with parents. I personally know several students that have dropped out of school because of "bullying" issues. Depending on who the "bully' is, if its a "star" student, or an "important" parent, complaining about the issue can make the torment worse for the victim. More training is needed. Bandon Chief Webb has tried to keep people informed about bullying issues and even does a regular event in the schools talking about bullying. My daughter was bullied so much, and I couldn't get anything done about it with the police or the school at the time. We got lucky that the high school principal was understanding and took unusual steps to help my daughter. Now she is doing well despite the issues she had. Training, being informed and wanting to do something is a MUST for everybody, not just a few.
If you click the link above it gives you the full story :) It's Bandon.
What school is this?
WHY?!?
What the heck!!!!! And the police weren't called....