Sumner Newscow report —  The following is a letter to the parents by Wellington Superintendent Adam Hatfield:

Adam Hatfield

On Sept. 8, during the morning transition to school, Wellington Middle School personnel were sent a screenshot of a person-to-person text conversation that a student was having in which they mentioned that they would not be going to school “because they had heard rumors that someone was going to shoot.”

Wellington Middle School personnel contacted the WMS Administration and local law enforcement.

I want to thank local law enforcement and our Administration on the swift and concise investigation. This situation was, unfortunately, a poor decision made by a student who did not want to go to school. The administration and law enforcement very quickly deemed it that students were not in danger.

The decision was made later to communicate to our patrons due to this becoming a rumor within the student body and the community. We wanted to inform the community so that our parents could have good conversations with their children after school.

Throughout the morning, we sent out communications to our patrons (Staff email, Media outlets, Website, Social media, Text Alert). However, although we did send information out to everyone, we, unfortunately, made some communication errors. Our sources of communication were not sent in the correct order, and there was too much time between sources of communication.

Because of these errors, parents were notified later while learning about the situation from a different source. This should not have happened, and we will make the adjustments needed to correct this. I apologize for any stress this caused you and your family. We are committed to the safety of our students and will work to communicate more efficiently with parents when concerns arise.

Sincerely,
Adam Hatfield Superintendent- USD 353

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