Parents say Bala Cynwyd fifth graders texted about who should be shot in the next school shooting

Three weeks ago, parents say, fifth graders at Bala Cynwyd Middle School had a conversation over text about school shootings.

“Everyday i think of school shootings and hope the most people die,” one student wrote, according to a screenshot of the exchange shared by two parents. The exchange continued: “I hope the following people will get shot,” before listing names that were blacked out.

The parents who provided the exchange to The Inquirer said they knew who the listed names were — because one was their child.

The Lower Merion School District has not informed most parents of the details of the incident — referring in a message to the community Thursday to “text messages that included threatening language.”

Lower Merion police assisted the district in investigating, “and concluded that no credible threat to the safety of the school community ever existed related to those text messages,” Acting Superintendent Megan Shafer said in the message Thursday.

To reach that conclusion, Shafer said, the district followed its threat assessment process — using a model developed by University of Virginia researchers involving “multiple data points” and “various staff members and outside agencies, including law enforcement when indicated.”

That isn’t assurance enough, said the parents who spoke to The Inquirer, who asked not to be identified to protect the anonymity of their child. They said other parents were similarly frustrated following a town hall meeting Wednesday night with Shafer and Bala Cynwyd’s principal, Jeffrey Hunter, during which the parents said administrators disclosed that students involved in sending the messages would be allowed to return to school Monday.

“If you’re going to deem this to not be a credible threat ... there still needs to be a little more transparency as to why parents should feel safe with these children being readmitted,” one of the parents said.

» READ MORE: How should schools respond to threats of violence? Experts give tips on quelling anxiety and assessing risk.

District spokesperson Amy Buckman declined to comment Friday, directing a reporter to Shafer’s statements.

In her message Thursday, Shafer said that in order “to protect the privacy of the children involved, specific information regarding incidents like what occurred at BCMS and the subsequent consequences cannot be shared with community members beyond the students who were involved and their families. This protection is required by law under FERPA and, because there is no credible threat to the school community, there is no applicable exception to FERPA.

“Consequently, we will not be sharing the names of the students who sent the text messages, nor details of disciplinary and support measures that have been put in place to ensure the safety of all students,” Shafer said, referencing the federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act.

While the parents who spoke to The Inquirer were aware of the details of the text messages, that’s only because another student sent screenshots to their child, they said.

They had received a call from the school on March 27 — one hour after the shooting at the Covenant School in Nashville, they noted — regarding the messages.

During a meeting with administrators, they were told that “a text message mentioned something about potential violence,” and their child’s name was on it, one of the parents said. But “we did not know the extent of the statements made” — and other parents in the school community, unless the screenshots have been shared with them, still don’t.

“I understand privacy laws,” the parent said, but it’s “beyond ridiculous” for the district to not disclose the substance of the messages.

The issue has spurred debate on social media, with other district parents expressing similar outrage over the district’s response.

Some others cautioned against overreaction. “Kids are impulsive,” said parent Rebecca Rosenberger Smolen. “I worry about draconian punishments that are inappropriate.”

“Aren’t we going to trust the police,” and “the process in the school administration?” she said. “This is not a community decision.”

Parents unhappy with the district’s handling of the incident are planning to meet Sunday to develop an action list to present to the school board Monday night, according to the two parents whose child was named in the text messages. They voiced concern about the students who sent the texts being permitted to return to school.

But they also said parents are calling for greater transparency — noting recent episodes in which others thought that the district hadn’t shared enough information, including racist emails sent to students at Harriton High School.

With “rumors flying” about the Bala Cynwyd text messages, the parents said the lack of detail has made it difficult to explain the situation to children who hear things at school.

“Good luck trying to talk to your 10-year-old about what is already an impossible issue to talk to these kids about, without having any facts whatsoever,” one of the parents said.