Eighth grader brings gun to Foresthill school
Students reminded to report safety concerns immediately
School officials and parents are reeling from an eighth-grader’s decision to bring a gun to campus. This week Foresthill Union School District Superintendent sent a letter to parents informing them that a student who brought a firearm to Forest Divide Middle School will not return to campus. Jim Roberts wrote in a letter dated May 26 that staff found out about the incident Tuesday. On May 21, the student reportedly brought the gun to school. On Tuesday, the student was arrested and “appropriate disciplinary measures will be taken,” Roberts wrote. Roberts continued to say the incident is “by no means resolved,” but he assured parents that students and staff are safe. He said the school will make changes to procedure or add safety measures if necessary. “I would like to reiterate that school safety is our No. 1 priority,” Roberts wrote. “This event demonstrates again that small, rural towns like Foresthill are not immune to this type of incident.” Kim Cochran, a Foresthill resident whose daughter attends the elementary school in town, said she was surprised to hear of a gun on campus. “We moved from Antioch where you have kids who come to school with a gun and you have to watch out for that,” Cochran said. “We moved the kids here to be away from that. We’ve lived her a long time and when I heard about this I thought, ‘wow, not in my town. Things like that don’t happen.’” In a prepared statement to the Journal, Roberts said the gun was in the student’s backpack and not taken out while on campus. He added that the firearm was not loaded nor was there any ammunition with it. “We are saddened and disappointed over this unfortunate incident,” Roberts said. “Kids make mistakes but this was a big one.” Roy Price, who said his grandson attends the middle school, said he thought the incident could’ve been handled better. He said he wished police would’ve been on hand when school staff first apprehended the boy. He also thought parents should’ve been notified earlier and by the school. Instead, his family first learned of the incident from his 13-year-old grandson. “It upset me that the principal found out about this and the first thing to do was go into a classroom and get somebody instead of calling the police,” Price said. “Let the police go in the classroom.” Cochran said the letter sent to parents concerned her because it stated the issue was still not resolved. She said she hopes the incident sparks conversation between parents and their children. “I think people need to open their eyes and talk to their kids about it,” Cochran said. “(Talk about) how it’s not OK to do these things.” Roberts said no threats were made to any students or staff and no one was injured. He wrote in his letter that the school will continue to work on the problem until they know there is no longer an issue. Shannon Jacinto, principal of the middle school, said students were reminded that if they have any information or are worried about their safety, they should find a way to alert an adult. She recommended that students even slip an anonymous note to a teacher, make a call from home or any other means to protect everyone’s safety. Jacinto said since the discovery of the firearm, a school resource officer has increased his presence on campus. Overall, Jacinto said the campus is healing from the incident. “I’m out in the parking lot every day, helping move traffic through and chit-chatting with parents,” Jacinto said. “It’s been calm and the feedback has been thank you.” The Journal's Jenifer Gee can be reached at jeniferg@goldcountrymedia.com or post a comment.
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Sounds like Foresthill...
What's the problem? The 8th grader was simply exercising his right, under the Second Amendment, to carry a gun. And don't give me any BS about the "well regulated militia" language. It doesn't apply. Our founding fathers intended that everybody should have the right to have a gun. The arrest of this 8th grader is just the first step in the Liberal agenda to take everybody's guns.
Shocking...this kid needs to move to Salinas. Guns won't be noticed there.
"kid brings gun to school" big deal, they bring drugs to school all the time that come from their parents medicine cabinet. Why does't the story address the motivation for bringing the gun to school? Since we can only speculate, I speculate it was becase some right-to-smoke-weed advocate was pressuring him to start a life of drug abuse and he felt the need to protect himself. Come on Journal, get the story complete.
Gulliver, I get your sarcasm, but it is a pathetic appeal. The boy is under age; he made a stupid mistake. He will pay for his mistake.
Don't dawg Foresthill thats where I grew up and thats one of the best places to live..The kid should get what he deserves! How the hell did the kid get the gun anyways. Those things should be locked up out of the way of any kid!
How many cases like this have there been on our hill? Doesn't sound anything like the Foresthill that I have been a resident of for twenty plus years! Ignorance must be bliss in Applegate!
But thanks be to Congress, who needed that NRA lobbyist money so badly, he can now take it into a National Park or Wildlife Refuge.
Gulliver, your sarcasm is a bit misplaced when it comes to the safty of minors, this one made a very poor decision and is paying for it. Some people should take better care of the safe keeping of the firearms they own, sound like this is the situation here. Responsible ownership applies to fire arms and many other things in this world --Key word responsible.
This story is incorrect. The fact is the child brought the unloaded, no
ammo gun to school the day before his arrest. He was arrested one
full day after the gun was brought to school. At that time he had already
notified his parents of what he had done so by mistake after going out and shooting
targets the night before. The following day, the parents spoke with the local officer and
he stated that he didn't plan on placing the child under arrest. Later in the afternoon
the child was arrested as school was getting out, obviously a lesson the officer thought
he needed the child to receive. The child was also not allowed to see
his parents until today at his court appearance. Is that right? The friends and family know that his child
has always been in good standings in the community, and it's not strange at all for "hill"
kids to go out shooting guns at all. If you're from the hill's you would know. Feel free to
email me with any questions or comments, as a journalist myself it's very disheartening to
read the minimalist reporting of the Auburn Journal. How about a story on the officer mislead the
parents of this child, or how they parents were not allowed to see the MINOR until numerous
days after his arrest. Yes the child should pay for his mistake, but so should the school and the
officer in questions.
elmorningstar@surewest.net
After reading this serveral times I didn't see that they may have the dates in a way correct for the time period. But the sentence structure is wrong. Jenifer may need to move to tabloid journalism, the trickery in her sentence structure would work much better in that form of media.
d_hodge: Just exactly where in the Second Amendment does it say that the safety of minors--or anyone else--trumps the right to have a gun? And who says I'm being sarcastic?
MorStar - thank you for letting us know the facts. The boy made a mistake, I think because of the situations with school shootings, it has made the tolerance for something like this very low. That's understandable but at the same time, those are some very heavy consequences when it is a situation like this. I was disappointed when I read the story, even before your comments, because it was really vague. The fact it was unloaded, not displayed, and there was no ammunition makes it pretty clear it was not meant to be threatening, but this wouldn't be an article that I as a parent would have felt reassured about, and if there were more details and they were deliberately omitted for shock value, well, that would be disappointing and not the direction we want this paper to go. I feel bad for the kid to be honest.
Interesting because what I am hearing is that the kid broke up with his girlfriend and was upset. I have not gotten all of the details but my youngest daughter goes there and my oldest went there before moving on to high school. We know the teachers very well and know that they have the kids best interests in mind.
Gun safetly starts at home. My guns are kept in a safe place and locked when I am not around. I also started educating them on proper use when they were very little. This keeps them safe both at my house but also anywhere else a gun might show up. If you ask them to tear one of them down and clean it they can. But they also know it's 100% hands off unless we are there! Responsibility lies with the parents for allowing access and the child for brining it to a place where it is forbidden....regardless if they were going out shooting afterwards or not. Why didn' the adult have the gun?
This is the same "journalist" that wrote that very incomplete/poorly-researched story about the lady that was slandering her child's father on Youtube last week. Sensationalist journalism with little fact finding. Auburn Journal: Surely you can do better.
Seems like TrailBlazer is feeding into "tabloid" type of journalism.
No where in the "story" did it say anything about the kid and a
girlfriend, nor in the post that MorStar made. The mentalitly of
people like TrailBlazer make it scray to live in our area.
Catman123,Well put!!
As someone who attends FDMS five days a week, I'd like to clarify some of the facts. The student brought the gun to school a week ago Thursday. Nothing happened other than some other students saw the gun. Tuesday, a grandparent reported to the principal that he/she had learned about the gun from his/her grandchild over the holiday weekend. The principal, Mrs. Jacinto, immediately contacted the sheriff. She and an officer confronted the student. A lengthy investigation took place that included the student's parents. All the district's parents were notified by a letter (the one quoted by the Journal) that went home that day (Tuesday). Our education has not been adversely affected by this incident. This week, we had a talent show and the May Play (I did notice that the villian in the play was using her fingers as a pistol instead of using a prop gun). Much of the calm at the school can be attributed to the great principal and teachers we have in Foresthill. I feel safe and cared for at FDMS.
people chill...sure it shouldnt have happened but it did. the past is the past. oh and let me say, if any of you think the student should learn from it he will. yeah thi swas a huge mistake, a failure almost, but "You're not going to be very successful if you're not willing to fail." no excuse but from now on, it just should not happen.
Sorry maw an' paw... I dunn forgots tah take my gun that ya'alls gave me out of my knapsack... yah know, the one ya'alls gave me tah pratect the meth trailer with...
Come on, I know some of you were thinking it. And yes, I know it's not necessarily true, just a worst case scenario.
Don't get your panties in a bunch whitewaterjunkies, I was just pokin fun of Foresthill a little bit,
Ignorance might be bliss in Applegate, But at least we dont have tweakers setting each other on fire here...
Applegate, Their are just as many tweekers in Applegate as Foresthill.
I didn't say Applegate does not HaVE tweakers, It's got plenty of em, Just that the ones around here dont set each other on fire while driving down the road...yet..
No worries EJAppelgate, its all fun and games till the tweekers come out to play!!!!! Unfortunately tweekers are far to wide spread in this county!! I say burn them all !!
This is for anyone who does not think this happens everywhere. I work in the AUSD and it happens here also. People who say they moved here to get away from it. Sorry but you need to move further away. Who knows where? Unfortunately there are parents who do not pay attention to what their kids are doing, so kids do stupid things. Drugs, guns, alcohol, knives are all being brought to our ALL our schools.
Be more involved with your children. Do not expect the schools and police to raise your kids it is your job.
This tabloid type of journalism seems to be working for the AJ, just look at how many it has generated. So I fear that as much as we would like our local paper to actually report the news honestly and with some level of intelligence, it is not going to happen. It seems these ill-informed poorly written "stories" are just what the AJ needs to stay alive...unfortunately.
& yes!!! i agree with ..... {dontwantnone}!!!!!!
Perrigrine's narrative of events and comments are the most accurate, rational and articulate of all that have been posted, including the 'journalist' MorStar's inflammatory comments. She should be commended for not stooping to second guessing the school administration as did Roy Price, nor criticizing the community as Kim Cochran seemed to be saying. It's always a surprise when a school is violated in such a way, but it's certainly not unheard of in even the best communities. Look at Littleton, Colorado. Perrigrine was straight forward and obviously proud of her school and unlike others, who felt the need to post ad hominem comments, Kept to the high road. Good for her.
It wouldn't surprise me if there were more guns per capita in our foothill and mountain communities than in Antioch. The school principal, Shannon Jacinto, did the right thing in her approach to a problem that was reported last Tuesday by a student's grandparent. (The grandparent also did the right thing as soon as she became aware of the previous week's incident.) The principal notified the sheriff, went to the classroom and removed the student. That is the principal's responsibility and it clearly demonstrates to students, staff and the community that the school is in good hands and that safety is the top priority of the school. A sheriff's deputy removing a student from the classroom would be very disruptive and counter productive. I'm sure one of the disappoints the school and district staff feel, and there are probably many, is that it took from Thursday, when the gun was brought to school, until the following Tuesday, when the school was notified by a concerned grandparent. School officials and law enforcement will now be involved in the very time consuming process of following the due process as defined by the Education and Penal Codes. Children can make poor choices, it is true. Children can and will make mistakes. This student, if the facts bear out, has made a big mistake that will carry significant consequences.
Funny that I am told that I am feeding into the tabloid mentality of the is article. What I was simply trying to say was that there are a lot of Rumors running around regarding this incident and the True Facts have not come out yet.
The other point I was trying to make was the the kid is partially responsible yet its the parents responsibility to keep their firearms safe.
Is it not our responsibility to help minimize the risk of our kids having to learn hard lessons like this?
once again, PARENTS need and must check on what their children are doing 24/7. I do not care how old they are. If they are living under your roof it is your responsibility to make sure everyone is safe. My child just graduated from college and because of the bad job market has moved back home. I will talk to my child, have dinner with my child and if I think something is out of sorts I will check my adult child's email and whatever else I need to do to keep my child and my household safe. Be a responsible parent