School leader says district policies call for ‘very long suspension or expulsion’ after Black Hawk Middle School stabbing

WARRENTON, Mo. (First Alert 4) - Warren County R-III Superintendent Gregg Klinginsmith said he cannot say whether the student suspected in Thursday’s stabbing attack at Black Hawk Middle School could return to school. The attack injured two students and a teacher.

Student discipline

First Alert 4 Investigator David Amelotti asked Klinginsmith whether there is a chance the student could come back to school. Klinginsmith said he cannot speak to the specific case and that the student will receive due process.

“I can’t get into the student things, but every student is given due process,” Klinginsmith said. “In a situation like this, that would be severe. We long-term suspend students a lot. We have expelled students enough. So I can’t say specifically on this because the student will be given his own due process for this event, but our policies would have this to be a very long suspension or expulsion.”

Police address firearm rumors

Warrenton police told First Alert 4 a previous allegation involving a firearm was reported to the school resource officer about the student.

Police said the student’s belongings and home were searched and additional safety measures were implemented after the allegation.

Warrenton police said there has been no confirmation that the juvenile previously possessed a gun or brought one onto school property.

Parents and community members have told First Alert 4 the student brought a gun to school weeks ago. Police said that is not accurate.

Superintendent declines to discuss what district knew

Amelotti asked Klinginsmith what the district knew about the student before the stabbing.

“I really can’t get into the student at all because of an ongoing investigation and I really don’t want to accidentally do something I shouldn’t do to jeopardize investigation,” Klinginsmith said. “Because our number one goal really would be to protect the integrity of an investigation so we can get a clean trial on the acts that occurred. But I can tell you this, if any student brings a gun to school, they’re suspended for a year.”

Klinginsmith would not confirm or deny the report of a prior gun incident involving the student.

Extra security at high school

Klinginsmith said concerns about a possible copycat incident led to extra police at the town’s high school Friday. He said the district checked every backpack as students arrived.

“Any threat that we get, we take very, very seriously, investigate every one of them seriously,” Klinginsmith said. “For example, today at the high school, we had some concerns that we’re going to have a copycat event at the high school. So we had extra law enforcement there and we searched every backpack as kids were coming into school.”

District plans community meeting

Amelotti asked Klinginsmith whether the district and police could have communicated better with the public during and after the crisis. Klinginsmith said the district tried to get information to families as quickly as possible. He acknowledged there is room to improve, including social media communication.

Klinginsmith said the district will hold a meeting with parents and community members Monday night.

“We’re just going to sit down and brainstorm,” Klinginsmith said. “You know, what can we do? What makes sense? And so we’re going to work on it together as a community to solve the problem.”

He said the district will then try to put the resulting list of requests into a plan.

“When you say yes to something, you have to say no to something else, especially in tight budget times like this,” Klinginsmith said. “But we are willing to just investigate and see what we can do. But most importantly, hear our community, listen to them, and have face-to-face conversations about what’s going on.”

Klinginsmith said the district plans to debrief with Warrenton police and meet with community members about what changes make sense.

Staff training

Klinginsmith said district staff go through intruder training annually, with quarterly drills. He could not provide the date of the most recent drill. He said the district also completed behavioral threat assessment and management training in the last couple of years.