Staff report
RNESU Superintendent Kristin Hubert sent an email to families Sunday, April 2 notifying them that a threat at Neshobe School was deemed “not credible” as rumors circulated on social media. But Monday morning, Hubert said “new information has been brought to light.”
“Neshobe School is still conducting an internal review and investigation into the incidents,” Hubert said in her email.
Neshobe serves pre-K to sixth graders in Brandon. School staff learned a student used specific and targeted threatening language against another after saying that they “could blow something up” using a water bottle with a flint attached to it.
The threat to blow something up was deemed not credible by the Brandon Police Department and Vermont State Police. The threat of targeted language was still under investigation as of April 3.
In both instances, a behavioral threat assessment was conducted to identify, evaluate, and address potential threats to help schools distinguish between incidents where a student made a threat that is not actually legitimate (with no intent to harm) and other incidents in which the student does pose an actual threat of targeted violence.
“In all cases, the goal is to pair the student with proper school and community-based intervention and supports,” Hubert wrote.
The school district, which has had a number of threatening incidents, is working with the Brandon Police Department to hire a school resource officer. Tyler Weideman, a former principal at Mill River Unified Union School District, was recently nominated to be the director of safe schools for the 2023-2024 school year.
