Middle Schooler Arrested For Threatening Another Student With Knife
Middle Schooler Arrested For Threatening Another Student With Knife
By Mike Scott
A Clark County Middle School student was taken into police custody on Monday morning, March 14, following a weapons incident at the school.
According to Kahoka Police Chief Bill Conger, a 15 year old white male was arrested and charged with Assault 2nd Degree, a Class C felony, after he allegedly threatened a 12 year old male student with folding box cutter knife.
“Horseplay resulted in one student getting upset and responding this way,” said Clark County R-1 School Superintendent Ritchie Kracht. There were several witnesses to the incident, which took place in the boy’s locker room. The class teacher was in the gym at the time.
“It’s impossible to supervise both locker rooms and the gym at the same time,” said Clark County R-1 School Superintendent Ritchie Kracht. “I would have hoped one the of the students would have run up the stairs and called the teacher, but that didn’t happen.”
The student victim reported the incident to Middle School Principal Jason Church.
“Mr. Church immediately took action, and brought the suspect to the office. He searched his bag and pockets, and found the knife in his possession, then called the police. Jason took statements from the witnesses, and the kids wrote statements for the police,” Kracht said.
“We take these situations extremely seriously,” Kracht continued. “Our number one priority is providing a safe and comfortable environment for our students and staff.”
“I think we handled the situation correctly,” Kracht added. “Mr. Church brought the student to the office and found the knife immediately. He did a great job to make sure nobody was in danger. We could have locked down the school if he hadn’t located the knife immediately.”
School policy for use of a weapon such as a knife has a minimum penalty of 5-180 days out of school suspension and/or expulsion, and a maximum penalty of 10-180 days out of school suspension and/or expulsion.
“We will follow our policies, Kracht said, declining to discuss any specific punishment for the student involved.
“In the seven years I’ve been here, this is the first incident we’ve had involving a weapon,” Kracht added.
“I was called to the school at 10:20 AM Monday,” Conger said. At that time, the student was in the office. I placed him in custody, and obtained witness statements. His parents were notified, and he was advised of his rights. He decided not to talk to us, and was turned over to Clark County Juvenile Officer Eric DeRosear.”
“I think the school handled the situation correctly,” said Conger. “I don’t know of anything we could have done differently.”
