ROANOKE COUNTY (WSLS)-- A community forum at Northside High School is giving parents, students and community members the chance to voice their opinions and questions after several recent incidents at the school.
Many parents were concerned about a shooting threat to the school on Thursday, February 18. The school was first notified about the threat the day before, on Wednesday afternoon, as word quickly spread through the students. The school notified police right away who began investigating and planned increased patrols on the school grounds the next day.
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Some parents were outraged that the school did not make an announcement or address their concerns until the next morning, just before the school day was set to begin. Dozens of worried students stayed home from school, later receiving excused absences.
Tom McCracken, the Roanoke County School Board member who called the forum, expects a lot of questions about the incident.
"I really don't know where we could've gone, what we could've done or if we could've made it better," says McCracken. "My job as a school board member is to try and investigate that and find out. If we need to change how we do things or if we made a mistake and need to step back, then we need to be willing to do that."
McCracken originally called the called the forum in the days before the threats, to address the change in administrative staffing at Northside.
He says he's gotten a lot of questions after the school's principal, Frank Dent, suddenly announced he would be stepping down. Days later, an assistant principal, Amy Puckett, asked to be reassigned.
"There's a lot of gossip going out there, in both of these issues that Northside has had to face over the past two weeks" says McCracken. "I think it's healthy to hear. We might not always agree. As a school board member, I might not always agree with a parent that's really frustrated, but they have a right to be frustrated and they have a right to have a productive place, a forum to vent."
Parents and students who attend the forum will get their first chance to meet the interim principal, Dr. Dan Lyons. He is the former superintendent for Lexington Public Schools and will be filling in for the remainder of the year.
Tonight's forum will take place at Northside High School at 7 p.m.