JISD officials insist Rowe 'safe school'
By JIMMY GALVAN Managing Editor

Jasper Independent School District officials insist Rowe Intermediate is a "safe" school after two police-related incidents early last week.

"This is a good campus and it is safe," said Jasper Interim Superintendent Bill "Butch" Dean. "It is a good place to come to school. We just had two incidents in three days. It's a good safe place and I'm not really concerned about it and I hope the parents are not either."

Concerned parents crowded the entrance to Rowe trying to locate their children Wednesday, March 7, and voiced their displeasure over the district's handling of issues at the campus.

"I have spoken to a teacher at this campus who said she feared for some of these children at this school," said one parent. "There is no discipline at this school. There appears to be no respect for authority at this school and no follow up on the discipline.

"Throughout the year it has snowballed and progressively gotten worse," said the parent. "Right, now this makes me not want to send my kid here at all. We have had two situations this week and what is going to happen tomorrow?"

Dean said he is not concerned that parents might take their children out of the school for fear of their safety.

"What we did in both cases was react properly according to the district emergency operations plan," Dean said. "I will also go with safety first instead of taking a risk with anything."

According to Dean, Wednesday's incident revolved around a message found in a bathroom at the campus at approximately 1 p.m. Rowe Principal Sherida Barnes contacted Jasper Police and the district's student resource officer James Payne and the district's administration.

The district's emergency operations plan was placed into effect and all students and staff were evacuated from the school to Jasper Junior High via school buses.

Dean said the suspected student was located and the bomb threat was determined to be false.

"No device was found at all," Dean said.

"There was no danger present," Dean said. "The buses were already on the road with some already there so we made the decision to turn them around and bring back here."

Dean said the suspected student confessed to writing the message and gave detailed information confirming that the student had written the threatening message.

"All students and staff were returned to Rowe without incident and we were pleased that everyone conducted themselves calmly according to the plan," Dean said.

Dean said the case has been turned over to Jasper Police and the student faces criminal charges as well as disciplinary action from the district.

"The case is out of our hands right now," Dean said. "Once they finish investigating, then we will receive a report and a decision will be made on the student's punishment."

The bomb threat comes on the heels of an incident when a student brought a plastic, toy gun to the campus Monday, March 5, and showed it to another student.

"The first incident was just a boy who wanted to show his friends something," Dean said. "There was no harm intended and no threat to any students.

"It has been a hectic week for us," Dean said. "Both students will be addressed appropriately and we will deal them with age-appropriate discipline.

"These kinds of incidents disrupt class and the students and their normal everyday routine," Dean said. "It creates a hardship for the staff at this campus and also for the administration.