KC students arrested for ‘terroristic threats’ against teacher. They’re back in class
The words at the top of incident report, filled out by Kansas City police, are the kind no school wants to see:
“Terroristic Threats.”
At Kansas City’s Pembroke Hill School, it is the unclear nature of those threats — leveled in September against a newly hired African American teacher and reportedly made by three middle school students — that continue to fill faculty and parents at the tony private school with questions, concerns and consternation two months later.
Were the threats racial? Physical?
The chief concern is why two of the offending students — all of whom were reportedly put in handcuffs on Sept. 25 and taken by police from the $30,000-per-year school — were allowed to return after a suspension. One student did not return, although it remains unclear if the student did not return voluntarily or if the student was expelled.
“I cannot believe the way it was handled,” said a longtime Pembroke parent who didn’t want her name used out of concern that her criticism of the school would lead to recriminations against her children. “When did it become OK to threaten a teacher?”
“I think it’s sickening,” the parent continued. “The kids are concerned because they saw their classmates getting arrested. They handcuffed them. They took them away in cars. They’re upset for the teacher. Then when the kids come back, people are freaked out because they don’t want to be around the kids. They don’t know if they’re safe at school.”
Two threatening incidents
The lack of detailed information passed on to students and parents, she said, has been frustrating. Also galling, she added, is that one of the offending students is the child of a Pembroke board member.
“It’s unacceptable,” she said, “that your privilege puts you on a board and then you use that privilege to get your kid out of a situation he shouldn’t be out of.”
The police incident report, obtained by The Star, offers almost no useful information as to the nature of the threats, except to say they occurred.
“(Police Officer) King and I were working in an off-duty capacity at Pembroke Hill School District and were made aware of a threat to a teacher,” the incident report reads.
Because the individuals involved are juveniles, their names and the details of what happened have been redacted, meaning obscured from sight. The Star’s policy also is to not publish the names of children accused of or charged with crimes, even if they are known, unless they are charged as adults.
No charges were filed. The two students are no longer in the teacher’s class.
Pembroke administrators declined to speak to The Star directly, but in answers to emailed questions they acknowledged that two incidents actually occurred in relation to the faculty member who was identified as Christie D. Jones in the police incident report.
Jones declined to speak on the record to The Star.
Jones, who has been a teacher for 20 years, started instructing seventh grade English at Pembroke in May.
Pembroke acknowledged that the first threat, by one middle school student, occurred in early September.
“The threat was reported to the school and we initiated our standard process of threat assessment and investigation which resulted in notification of the Kansas City Police Department,” the school wrote to The Star. “The police department visited the student’s family at their home and the matter was cleared from a law enforcement perspective. The student subsequently served a long-term suspension.”
Disturbed by the threat, Jones reportedly took a leave of absence from the school for several weeks. Before Jones was scheduled to return, the school was made aware of a second set of threats shared on a text thread among several middle school students.
‘No charges’
The police incident report says that occurred on Sept. 25 at 3 p.m.
“The school evaluated the threat using our standard process of threat assessment and then contacted the off-duty Kansas City Police Department officers on campus at the time,” the school said. “The matter was turned over to the police department for investigation and no charges were filed.”
Pembroke administrators said the school “conducted a comprehensive and thorough investigation into the matter and students were disciplined accordingly.” One student did not return, although it was not clear if the student did not return voluntarily or if the student was expelled. The others returned after “long-term suspensions,” the administrators said.
The school added that at Pembroke “any threat is taken extremely seriously.” Asked if the fact that one student was the child of a board member played a role in the decision to allow that student to return to the school, Pembroke administrators responded, “No.”
Asked whether the school did anything to assure the community of parents of the actions the school had taken — such as hold an assembly or send an email or letter — the school said it did not.
“The school’s general policy,” Pembroke responded, “is not to announce disciplinary action taken against individual students. However, the school has engaged in many conversations with individual parents who have asked questions or expressed concerns about what happened in September.
“Given the results of our investigation, that there were no charges brought, that there were juveniles involved, and out of respect for the privacy and dignity of the students and the faculty member, there has not been a broad communication to all parents.”
This story was originally published December 5, 2024 at 1:37 PM.
