MOUNT VERNON — Law enforcement, school officials and representatives of Knox County Juvenile Probation met Monday morning to discuss how juveniles should be handled in the wake of recent threats in local schools. Juvenile Judge Jennifer Springer called the meeting a “think tank to get ahead of the game and not be behind the eight ball.”
“We want everyone to be safe because we don’t want what happened in Florida to happen here,” she said.
Mindi Marmet, assistant director of juvenile probation and mental health probation officer, said the issue is that students and reported threats are being handled differently depending on which law enforcement jurisdiction handles the case. Marmet cited several examples:
- One student who threatened harm was detained while in another case the student was suspended.
- One student who made a threat on social media involving a gun was initially detained by an officer; a hearing was set by juvenile probation staff, only to find out the student was a no-show because it was a home-schooled student and the gun was a BB gun.
- One student detained at school in the morning arrived with an officer at juvenile probation, but probation was not informed and did not know why it was taking custody of the youth. There was a delay calling the crisis intervention team and getting a mental health assessment, and the student sat in juvenile probation until mid-afternoon. To compound the confusion, another school official arrived to transport the student home.
- One student was transported to a detention facility, and juvenile probation did not know of the situation until the facility called the probation department for the paperwork.
“We are willing to do whatever you want, we’re here to assist you, but we need to have some countywide guidelines,” Marmet told the group.
County Prosecutor Chip McConville acknowledged that “everyone has been very busy and we have not been coordinating resources as we probably should be.” Noting that authorities in other jurisdictions have had information but did not act upon it, he said, “My preference is we take charge of the situation where there are threats, detain the student, and then evaluate the danger and decide whether detention…or mental health resources are appropriate. The only way we can appropriately evaluate all of that is to get law enforcement involved as soon as possible, and juvenile probation.”
The group supported the recommendation of Jeremy Payne, director of juvenile probation, which is that school officials first call law enforcement. Law enforcement will evaluate the situation and make the call to juvenile probation.
If a parent calls in with concerns or information about a threat, school officials will get the information and call law enforcement.
The group also agreed that school officials will call law enforcement on any threat, whether specific or general, because law enforcement and the juvenile probation staff may know of a history with the juvenile of which the school might be unaware.
“We need to take every [threat] seriously. There’s just too much at risk,” said McConville.
Responding to a request from Centerburg Superintendent Mike Hebenthal, Springer said it might be possible to release results of mental health assessments to the school so that school officials have additional information going forward.
Mount Vernon Police Capt. Scott McKnight said his department recently started notifying Mount Vernon’s school resource officer if the department has contact with a juvenile after hours. One school official said communication from third-shift officers would help administrators know whether to have school the day following an incident.
On Feb. 23, a sixth-grader at Mount Vernon Middle School was taken into custody after writing a bomb threat in a school bathroom. On Feb. 19, a 17-year-old Fredericktown student was taken into custody after allegedly making threats to use firearms or a bomb against the school. The student is charged with inducing panic and aggravated menacing.
Other north central school districts have received threats since the deadly school shooting in Parkland, Florida, on Feb. 14, including Pioneer Career and Technology Center in Shelby, Galion, and Bucyrus. A threat at Mansfield City Schools was found to not be credible.
