NEWBURGH – The Newburgh School Board was not notified by district administration about last Tuesday’s incident at Heritage Middle School in New Windsor in which a 14-year-old female student attacked staff members in the principal’s office until the following day, even though there was a scheduled school board meeting that night and officials had the opportunity to brief the board.
In a Facebook post Thursday evening, School Board President Darren Stridiron wrote, “Why was the board not informed that an event took place just hours before the board meeting we attended that night?”
He questioned why did the superintendent “deny that police were involved at the school.”
Initial reports of the incident erroneously claimed an unruly student had a knife and had slashed someone.
A memo to school staff by Superintendent Jackielynn Manning Campbell criticized those who posted social media comments about a weapon. She called them “false, reckless and disparaging.” But she did not mention anything about the fact that an incident with the “violent student” actually occurred and was, according to the police report, witnessed by the school principal and assistant principal.
Stridiron wrote in his post that “While the rumor of a slashing appears to be untrue, the nature of the rumor, a violent event by a student with police response, is entirely accurate.”
He said staff at the school “should not be told that what they went through never happened.” In fact, an official report from New Windsor Police stated the student was violent with staff and was “out of control, screaming, threatening others, and throwing items around the office.”
Meanwhile, on Tuesday, the day of the incident, Heritage Principal Jessica Layne sent a memo to students, families, faculty and staff saying they implemented a “hold in place” protocol for about two minutes as a result of the student in distress. She said no students were in danger.
“A ‘hold in place’ is used for a variety of reasons to hold individuals in their classrooms and offices in order to keep the hallways clear,” she said. Drills are held throughout the year in order to understand the protocols to respond quickly in the event of an actual emergency.
