Green Valley Families,
The purpose of this message is to provide our entire community with an update on the incident that occurred yesterday at our school.
We know that the events that occurred yesterday afternoon raised concerns and generated a number of questions. While we will always share timely and accurate information with our families, please know this is an active investigation involving our police partners and confidential employee information. As a result, we cannot answer every question and speculation about what happened. Thank you for your understanding.
Yesterday, one of our staff members took a class of students off site as she used the “avoid” strategy in our Avoid, Deny, Defend (ADD) security drill. This strategy is one we train staff and students to use when they believe there is an immediate threat to student safety. We are grateful that this was a non-credible threat, but we know that the experience was upsetting for the students involved and our community at large.
In addition to the community message sent yesterday, last night we personally called each of the 27 families whose children were with the teacher who moved them off site. We provided support and information to those families that we hoped could help them process the event with their children. We also held a meeting this morning on site for parents of the impacted students to get additional information and services for their children. We have additional mental health staff at the school today to work with any child or staff member who may need support.
FCPS is continuing to investigate to more fully understand what precipitated the teacher’s actions and to fully understand the sequence of events. This will allow us to determine any additional action steps that should be taken. FCPS does not share specific information regarding personnel issues.
We thank you for continuing to partner with us as we strive to deliver the best educational program for our students.
Thank you,
Dr. Giuseppe Di Monte,
Principal, Green Valley Elementary