Hillsboro school board updated on protecting schools during recent social media

The Hillsboro City Schools Board of Education heard updates Monday, Dec. 20 on efforts to protect the district from potential threats during a recent social media “challenge,” while comments on the impact of the fall play’s cancellation also continued for a second consecutive month.

Superintendent Tim Davis discussed the steps taken by the district to protect students Friday, Dec. 17 in response to a viral “challenge” involving making threats of violence against schools.

The Greenfield Exempted Village Schools district closed Dec. 17 after a threat allegedly was made against their district, although the district and law enforcement later determined there was “no evidence that the threat originated locally or was intended for [Greenfield] campuses.”

Davis said there were no specific threats made against the Hillsboro district and school “carried on as normal,” but Hillsboro City Schools worked with the Hillsboro Police Department and Highland County Sheriff’s Office, along with district parents and students, to monitor the situation. They also took some proactive steps, including canceling large assemblies of students originally scheduled that day.

“We sent out a message on Final Forms to the entire district to be aware of the situation,” Davis told the board. “We want to thank our police department and sheriff’s department for helping us out. They were very instrumental in getting that out to the parents.”

The superintendent added that the reason they sent out the information was to encourage parents and students to be on the lookout “if they heard or saw anything” suspicious on social media.

“In those situations — if something were to happen — our students and parents are basically the front line of defense for hearing and seeing things,” Davis said. “We had calls coming into to the offices and calls to the sheriff’s department. The sheriff’s department took some phone calls and went out to meet with a student and their parents to ensure that there wasn’t anything going on.”

He said the message on Final Forms did lead to some students being “concerned,” and several families opted to keep kids at home Friday.

“When you send things out like that, the negative is kids start talking about it,” Davis said. “We sent it out, kids start talking about it and kids get concerned. Our administrators and our staff did an outstanding job with all the precautions to ensure the safety of our students.

“We did have some people absent due to that, but as far as the safety of kids, we never had any direct threats toward Hillsboro City Schools. We did have extra police in the building that day, and we did have two large assemblies scheduled for that day. We canceled them as large assemblies — because that was kind of the talk of what was going on, was those big assemblies.”

That included a “talent show in the middle of the gym with the entire high school” that they converted to a virtual event held in the high school auditorium, which both Davis and student board representative KaleyJo Myers said ended up being a success.

“We eliminated that [large crowd[ situation and had that in the auditorium and did it virtual, and it was awesome,” Davis said. “We also pushed back some of our middle school awards.”

Davis again thanked all of the district employees, students and parents for their assistance in ensuring the safety of all HCS students

“Again, it takes everybody, not only our staff and bus drivers and everybody keeping an ear out, but our parents and students,” he said. “They’re the ones that have the social media where maybe a post is sent to a child, and having those conversations is what’s going to be most vital to our safety. I want to thank our staff and administrators for being on top of it and going through the day and ensuring that safety, and then also for our parents and students, for the communication — kids talking to their parents.

“Even when they think it might not be that important, every little bit helps in those situations.”

In other discussion, Davis said that the first semester has concluded, and staff will be reviewing data from the first half of the school year during an upcoming professional development day. He also said there is a “lot of success” with the winter sports programs thus far.

“I’m very excited to see what the second half of the winter season brings,” Davis said. “Best of luck for them.”

Davis concluded his report by wishing everyone a merry Christmas and happy new year and by thanking the board for their efforts.

“It’s a thankless job, and for you guys to care about our students and staff and district and community, and just personally, I can tell you we’ve been through a lot,” Davis said. “It means a lot to me and the support that you guys have shown to our staff and the kids and all the things that we’re doing, and the way that we’re spending our resources for the betterment of our kids. I just want to make sure everybody knows how thankful we are, and our staff is very grateful for everything that you have done.”

• • •

For a second straight meeting, board members heard concerns regarding the cancellation of the play “She Kills Monsters.”

As previously reported, seven individuals spoke out against the alleged “bigotry” and “perception of homophobia” from the district following the cancellation of the fall play during the board’s Nov. 15 meeting. The cancellation of the play “She Kills Monsters,” which includes a character that is “implied” to be gay, has led to nationwide attention. Many of those in attendance at the November board meeting protested the reasoning behind the decision more so than the decision itself, as they said it gave the impression of a lack of acceptance of LGBTQ+ students and individuals.

Only one individual, Patrick Shanahan, spoke to the board at their December meeting, although there were several other concerned citizens in attendance with him. He spoke about his concern about the “perception of homophobia” created by the show’s cancellation and submitted a petition from the organization Hillsboro Against Racism & Discrimination (HARD) with six requests for the board and administration to consider.

As noted in November, each individual who spoke received a response in writing from the board. Shanahan said that he had “several problems with” the letter he received from the board in response to his comments at the November board meeting.

“I think there’s a misunderstanding as to why so many of us are up in arms over this decision,” he said. “This whole subject of LGBT rights is hyper politicized.

“I’m not motivated to come out here and speak because I view this as some sort of political football. That’s not what’s on my mind. This is an issue of human well-being, in my mind. I’m begging you all, please see past the political connotations of this scenario and just see it for what it is. It’s about human well-being, and it’s about community well-being.”

Shanahan reviewed data regarding increased risk of suicide, anxiety, depression, substance abuse and skipping school in LGBTQ+ students who “don’t feel safe or welcome in their school environment,” due to “bullying, discrimination and harassment.”

“The reason we’re so up in arms about the school’s decision is because we think the perception of homophobia that was created is going to end up being one of those social risk factors,” Shanahan told the board. “That’s why we’re concerned.

“So far, we don’t feel like we’ve seen an adequate response from the administration or the school board.”

Shanahan then read from the petition, which he said lists “six actions that we think you all need to take to truly rectify the situation.” He said the petition included approximately 80 signatures, primarily from individuals who either live in the district or graduated from Hillsboro.

Those six actions, according to the petition, are to:

• Establish clear guidelines on the criteria and process of future plays;

• Establish clear bullying policies in regard to discrimination against minority groups, including bullying by staff members, and an explanation as to why the current policy was seemingly not followed during this decision process;

• Establish fair and equitable guidelines on renting the school auditorium;

• Make the auditorium available for students to rent to perform their adaptation of “She Kills Monsters;”

• [Provide] a clear explanation as to why students were left out of the decision to cancel the play; and

• [Provide] immediate mitigation and repair of the damage caused to LGBTQ students by the school through actions such as, but not limited to, equal treatment of the Gay Straight Alliance club, establishing clear guidelines for staff to use transgender students’ chosen names and pronouns, clear policies on transgender students’…