Pittsburg school students who report bomb threats with the hope of getting out of school time were dealt a disappointing blow Monday night.
During the Pittsburg USD 250 Board of Education meeting, district administration and the BOE reviewed the policy regarding making up school time that is missed due to emergency evacuations that were caused “intentionally,” such as during a bomb threat.
Superintendent Destry Brown said it is district policy that time missed in those situations be made up.
According to district documents, the policy bomb threat policy states that: “If there is a bomb threat or similar emergency, the principal shall see that students are escorted to a safe place. The principal shall notify law enforcement agencies of the threat and request a thorough inspection of the buildings and grounds. Other contingencies as noted in the crisis plan shall be followed. If it is determined that no danger exists to the students’ safety and if there is time remaining in the school day, school shall be resumed. Time missed for a bomb threat will be made up.”
The last sentence of that policy, however, has not always been recognized or enforced. That is, until Monday’s meeting. The district has received several bomb threats in the past year, most recently on Jan. 21. The board agreed not to enforce the make-up policy in retrospect, Brown said, but will do so from this point forward.
“If we have another bomb threat,” he said, “we will make up that time.”
As to when that time will be made up, however, that will be a decision made by district leaders.
“We’ll work that out with administrators and with the staff,” Brown said.
The policy does not include those situations in which evacuations are caused by natural or unintentional causes, such as weather, power outages, mechanical failures and national or state emergencies. In those cases, “It is the intent of the district to make up time when the aggregate of time missed for the school year exceeds five days,” according to district documents. The BOE has the authority to modify the number of days to be made up.
