Teacher receives threat
By ltat
Monday, March 17th, 2008 at 7:36 pm in Crime, Education, Fremont, Fremont Unified.
A Mission San Jose High School teacher received a threatening letter last week with sexually suggestive language and a reference to Virginia Tech, site of the country’s deadliest shooting rampage.
A story about the ongoing investigation will appear in tomorrow’s Argus.
In the meantime, Stuart Kew, the principal at MSJHS, sent a letter home to parents today. I’ve reprinted his letter below:
To Parents of Mission San Jose High Students,
This past Monday, March 10, 2008, a Mission San Jose High teacher received a threatening letter via the U.S. mail. The contents of the letter had sexual overtones as well as threatening language referencing Virginia Tech. The letter was turned over to the Fremont Police Department and the District was notified. A police investigation is ongoing into this matter. The police have been directing and interviewing staff during the investigation. At this time we do not know the originator of the letter. I want to [assure] you that the school, police department and district are not taking this lightly and are doing everything possible to provide a safe environment for the students and staff alike. The police have instituted increased patrolling of the area bordering Mission High and we are having an additional SRO on campus during the afternoon hours. Administrators and our campus security are out and about on campus. Again I want to inform you that we are taking whatever steps are needed to provide for staff and student safety. If you have any questions please call me at 657-3600 x37210.
Sincerely,
Stuart Kew
Principal
My first question when I read the letter was: If the incident happened last Monday, why are parents just now being informed? So I called the district office, and the spokeswoman explained that school officials had been asked by police not to comment on the situation earlier.
What do you think? Never mind who made the decision to hold off on informing the community. Should a week have gone by before parents were notified? Are any parents planning on keeping their kids home from school because of this? If so, I’d love to hear from you.
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March 18th, 2008 at 9:25 am
Once again Mr. Kew has not done his job. When is anyone going to hold him accountable for anything? Whether or not the lousy Fremont police told him to hold off, he should have made the final decision to inform parents immediately. I have never in my entire life witnessed such an incompetent principal that continues to keep his job. MSJHS is a wide open school with no protection from anything. Shame on Mr. Kew and his undecisiveness once again. Someone needs to tell Mr. Kew to take early retirement now and good bye! Why should anyone in the Fremont police care about Fremont? The majority of our cops live in Tracy and Modesto. When something similar happened at Tracy High School, it was immediately taken care of. At the other Fremont High Schools, principals make decisions and keep students safe with an immediate lockdown, etc. But oh no, not at MSJHS, got to keep those test scores up and make sure everyone gets into Cal, even at the cost of kids lives!
March 18th, 2008 at 12:47 pm
I completely agree that action should have been taken immediatly with MSJHS acting independently if necessary. Parents have been unaware for a full week and even now the only notification is a letter sent home which kids could misplace. No public notification, nothing on MSJHS website, no concrete action has been evident. This is likely a hoax or bad joke but given the VirginiaTech reference how would we feel after being warned? I’m keeping my kid out of school today looking for some change in school security. My decision here is day-to-day.