{"id":19217,"date":"2019-10-10T09:24:48","date_gmt":"2019-10-10T15:24:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.skyhinews.com\/?p=60752"},"modified":"2019-10-10T11:34:17","modified_gmt":"2019-10-10T17:34:17","slug":"west-grand-superintendent-says-adults-must-do-better-after-report-of-school-threat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/local-news\/west-grand-superintendent-says-adults-must-do-better-after-report-of-school-threat\/","title":{"rendered":"West Grand superintendent says adults must do better after report of school threat"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n<\/figure>\n

In a Facebook video on Wednesday, the superintendent of West Grand schools assured students and parents their schools are safe after receiving a potential threat of school violence the day before.<\/p>\n

During the video recording, Darrin Peppard addresses the incident before he parlays into a larger discussion about personal responsibility, bullying, school violence and how adults might \u201cstep up\u201d to find local solutions to some of these national epidemics.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe schools are safe,\u201d Peppard said with confidence before empathizing with parents who might have wanted to keep their children home today following news West Grand High had received credible information about a potential threat on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

A \u201ccredible threat\u201d only means that \u201csomething was said\u201d in reference to school violence, Peppard explained in the video, as he recapped how a joint investigation involving Kremmling police, the Grand County Sheriff\u2019s Office and district officials revealed it was not a \u201cviable threat.\u201d<\/p>\n

Peppard said investigators spoke to the student who allegedly made the threat and to the student\u2019s parents. While Peppard acknowledged that something was probably said, he stressed the investigation was thorough and the student had neither the plans nor means nor intent to carry out such an act.<\/p>\n

Peppard called reports of a possible threat, \u201ccredible,\u201d before saying, there is nothing to support this was \u201ca viable threat,\u201d and drawing a major distinction between the two.<\/p>\n

Soon after his explanation of the incident, came the superintendent\u2019s \u201ccall to action.\u201d<\/p>\n

At times, Peppard seems to be thinking out loud as he pushes the community \u201cto be better\u201d throughout the video spanning just over 6 minutes. During the recording, Peppard describes how he, a police officer and school officials met with the students on Wednesday for \u201ca conversation.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had a conversation with our kids about how our words really matter. We had a conversation about judgment. We had a conversation about how we\u2019re a small tight-knit group and how we need to be that small tight-knit group,\u201d Preppard said.<\/p>\n

Earlier in the day, the district issued a statement on its Facebook page explaining West Grand High School received a potential threat and there would be an increased police presence at the schools without going into detail about the incident itself.<\/p>\n

Over the phone Wednesday afternoon, Peppard said he couldn\u2019t yet comment on the matter because the investigation was ongoing, but he would have more information later in the day.<\/p>\n

In comments on social media after the school reported news of the potential threat, a few people suggested the school should look into bullying. Responding to those comments in the video, Peppard said he has no problem revisiting the district\u2019s anti-bullying policies, either in policy or in practice, but real solutions won\u2019t come entirely from the schools.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo let\u2019s really sit down and really have some meaningful conversations that really dig to the root of this issue,\u201d he said. \u201cThis is not just about a school district needing to step up. This is about a whole community. This is about us. We can be different. We don\u2019t need to be that community where this happens.\u201d<\/p>\n

The superintendent continued by clarifying that he\u2019s not talking about more Facebook forums. Rather, he envisions town hall gatherings where people in the community can \u201cgenuinely\u201d work their way through these issues.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t just pay it lip service, and we don\u2019t just say, \u2018Well, that\u2019s the school\u2019s responsibility or that\u2019s the police department\u2019s responsibility,\u2019\u201d Peppard said. \u201cThis is the community. This is our collective responsibility, and I want to see us come together, and I want to see us solve this. It absolutely makes me sick that students in the entire country go to school in fear for their lives.\u201d<\/p>\n

Preppard said he\u2019s not exactly sure what the solution looks like just yet, but he knows that children learn from observing adults \u2014 and that adults have to do better.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re never going to end bullying or harassment if it continues to happen with adults,\u201d he said. \u201cIf we\u2019re going to really end bullying, let\u2019s end the adult bullying. Let\u2019s stop going to Facebook and blasting people; that\u2019s just too easy.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow about we actually have civil discourse? How about we actually come together and work through? How about we work on teaching our kids tolerance and understanding? I mean really teach them \u2026 That\u2019s all of us as a collective community.\u201d<\/p>\n

As part of standard protocol and the law enforcement process, district officials said West Grand would have a heightened police presence at both schools today. However, listening to the superintendent\u2019s call to action, it sounds like he\u2019s looking at this long term.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really believe as a community we can make a difference,\u201d Peppard said at the end of his video. \u201cWe collectively we should be better. We are West Grand, and I think it\u2019s up to us to fix this.\u201d<\/p>\n

via:: Sky-Hi News<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In a Facebook video on Wednesday, the superintendent of West Grand schools assured students and parents their schools are safe after receiving a potential threat of school violence the day before. During the video recording, Darrin Peppard addresses the incident before he parlays into a larger discussion about personal responsibility, bullying, school violence and how […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-19217","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-14 21:59:19","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KRKY Ski Country","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19217","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19217"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19217\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19226,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19217\/revisions\/19226"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19217"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19217"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19217"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}