Cedar Ridge implemented its safety plan last Friday, after a threat against the school was made when someone vandalized a stall in the boy’s bathroom. But a joint statement from the Orange County Sheriff’s Office and Orange County Schools issued over the weekend detailed previous threats, which were not reported to supervisors at the sheriff’s office or the school system.
Cedar Ridge’s principal found an initial instance of graffiti in the girl’s bathroom at the school on May 20, according to the timeline released. IndyWeek was first to report on the updated timeline.
That threat alleged that there would be a shooting, followed by a suicide, at the school on May 29.
The principal alerted the school resource officer, Corporal Andre Richmond, of the threat. Richmond photographed the graffiti, and custodial staff removed it. But neither the principal nor school resource officer “took the matter any further.”
Sometime in the morning on Friday, May 24, a student told the principal that there was some graffiti in the same bathroom where the previous threat was found.
Officials said this second instance “looked remarkably similar to the graffiti found” prior. Another SRO was on duty that day and was alerted that this was the “third or fourth time this writing had been found.”
That second SRO also photographed the graffiti, but once again “no administrator at the district level of the school system or at the command staff level at the OCSO had been notified about either instance of graffiti,” according to the weekend’s joint statement.
But another student had seen the graffiti on May 24 and sent a photo of the message to her mother, who called 911.
Richmond, who was reached by phone while on vacation by other members of the sheriff’s office, mistakenly believed the call about the second instance regarded the first account he had photographed but not passed along to superiors.
The principal ultimately began alerting district staff of the second threat the night of May 24, which led to contact being made with the sheriff’s office lieutenant who oversees SROs.
The graffiti, which this time was etched into the metal bathroom wall instead of written, was removed before students returned from the Memorial Day holiday, and a heavier police presence was at the school on May 29 – the date mentioned in the threat.
Richmond, the SRO, was commended by the sheriff’s office in a release last month following his completion of the SRO certificate program through the North Carolina Justice Academy, which represents the completion of 400 hours of advanced training. Richmond’s completion marked the eighth time the NCJA had issued the certification this year and one of 244 issued since 2002, according to the sheriff’s office.
Orange County Sheriff Charles Blackwood said in the release over the weekend detailing the new timeline that he was “concerned that officers under my command failed to report these threats to their superiors.”
Blackwood recently served on the School Safety Commission appointed by Governor Roy Cooper.
Blackwood said it was a violation of policy for a deputy “not to immediately report any threat to the safety of our students and school system personnel to his or her superior officer.”
He added this failure was “unconscionable.”
Orange County Schools superintendent Dr. Todd Wirt, who is leaving the district at the end of the month, said that school staff is trained to “understand the protocols and procedures around safety, but it is clear our expectations were not met this time.”
Wirt said the district relies on school principals to “take the lead to protect our children, and without a doubt we must do better.”
The threat of violence that led to increased law enforcement at the school last Friday came via graffiti in the boy’s bathroom.
Blackwood is now offering a $1,000 reward for anyone who comes forward with information leading to the successful arrest and prosecution of the person responsible for the threat.
The investigation into the threats is ongoing.
Blackwood said “this kind of threat causes disruption to student activities and creates heightened anxiety at a time when students should be free to focus on upcoming exams and successfully concluding the school year. Threats to their ability to do so will be taken seriously and prosecuted to the fullest extent.”
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