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February 7, 2013

Comment on school’s Facebook page causes concern

Situation handled by school, post on Corbin High School’s site removed

The Times-Tribune

CORBIN — By Jeff Noble / Staff Writer

A post on the social media site Facebook did not get a lot of “likes” Monday and Tuesday.

Corbin police said the post came from a student at Corbin High School, and was posted on the school’s Facebook page.

After conducting what was called a “threat assessment,” Corbin High took action Tuesday and handled the situation inside the high school.

The threat, which the school said was on a very low level, was removed from the page, and the page was taken down Tuesday and Wednesday.

“Different parents said it was put on Facebook that there were bomb threats, but that was not the case. Police were there around noon Tuesday, and I started getting texts about a bomb threat. After the initial post was made, we got questions and texts. There was absolutely no bomb threats on Facebook,” said Corbin Police Sgt. Rusty Hedrick on Wednesday.

According to Hedrick, the high school had received some concerns from students about another student posting on Facebook. As a result, the students thought the school staff needed to be aware of the situation.

“The school staff spoke with the student and the student’s father regarding the posts. There were some stuff that could be perceived as a threat, depending on who reads it. The school conducted a series of what they call a ‘threat assessment’ plan, and they took it to a series of levels. The school decided it was a very low level in their threat assessments, and decided to handle it in-house.”

Corbin High principal John Derek Faulconer said the comment came to their attention late Monday afternoon, and leaked over into Tuesday morning.

“We had some students who saw it before the administrators did. There were a whole lot of speculations that weren’t true. I’ve got about 855 kids here, and I’m going to take care of them. If they feel uncomfortable, come to me, or a teacher or go to somebody there at the school and tell us. We preach this. We’re family. We’re family-oriented, and if there’s something that bothers them, they report it to us. They did the right thing, and we’re proud of them,” noted Faulconer Wednesday.

In a statement released from his office, Corbin Independent School Superintendent Ed McNeel said, “On Monday, February 4th 2013, the administration at Corbin High School was made aware of comments that were posted to the social media site known as Facebook. After viewing these comments, a proactive group of students decided it was their responsibility to act in the name of school safety and present them to the administrators at Corbin High School.”

McNeel’s statement continued, “The administrators of Corbin High School took immediate action in assessing the comments to ensure that no faculty member, student body member or community member were in any danger. The comments posted on Facebook made no indications or references towards any Corbin High School student, nor did they reference any faculty member affiliated with Corbin High School. The administrators at Corbin High School deeply appreciate the alertness and awareness of the student body to present this to them as soon as possible.”

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