Robbinsdale area schools investigating two separate gun incidents at two middle schools

UPDATE: ISD 281 school board chair Helen Bassett tells 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS she’s called for a closed-door board meeting Monday, Nov. 21, to discuss the incident further. Her full statement is below.

Original report: 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS has learned that school officials in Robbinsdale waited days before alerting law enforcement and parents to a video showing a student with what appears to be a firearm inside Sandburg Middle School.

District communications staff say that the school began investigating the video incident Monday after it was sent to administrators late Friday evening. Despite beginning their own investigation Monday of the video circulating on social media, the district did not notify parents of students at Sandburg until Wednesday and notified Golden Valley police Thursday afternoon.

When reached for comment, Golden Valley Police Chief Virgil Green remarked, “in this day and time, why wouldn’t you notify police if there’s a student that allegedly had a weapon on campus?”

Just before 1:30 p.m. Thursday afternoon, the Chief Green said his department had not been notified. School officials told 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS that the district contacted police “in the last half-hour” at around 2:00 p.m. Thursday.

Sandburg Middle School does not have a School Resource Officer on site, according to a district spokesperson.

The incident at Sandburg was followed by Robbinsdale Middle School administrators confirming the presence of a student with a gun inside the school on Tuesday.

The principal of Robbinsdale Middle school released a statement to parents Wednesday acknowledging that a gun was brought to the school by a student who showed it to other students. The same student alleged to have brought the gun to school Tuesday had made threats against the school on social media just a day earlier.

Robbinsdale police say they were not aware of the incident until Thursday afternoon.

Robbinsdale Area Schools say that they are investigating both incidents.

On Friday, school board chair Helen Bassett sent 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS this statement:

I have immediately called for a closed session for the board to receive an incident report on all and any recent school safety matters. I requested that the board meet on the matters as soon as possible upon hearing parts of the stories.  

The school boards special school safety and incidence review meeting, that I called for needs to be properly noticed to the public. Therefore, I requested that the administration add a special closed meeting of the board as soon as possible. 

The closed special meeting is scheduled for Monday, Nov. 21. At that time, during the closed session, the board will receive an incident report prepared by the Superintendent, and his administration. 

The date was set in order to ensure that the closed session meets the public notice requirements, under Minnesota law, as related to school safety. 

Incidents that require investigations, whether H.R. related, school safety related, and other qualifying matters often must be investigated. It is important to verify, and if necessary – to preserve evidence. 

The school boards duty, includes a responsibility to not compromise investigations. As chair, I set the ball in motion to get the facts straight. Often post incident reviews offer the clearest opportunity to identify areas to focus on going forward.

I appreciate the public concerns, and I am committed to working with my colleagues on the board, to review and determine best practices along with the administration, whose duty it is to carry out policy, and procedures, to research and follow best practices, and to recognize and respect the jurisdictions and law enforcement partners that are established to keep our students, staff and our communities safe. 

Helen Bassett, Board Chair, Robbinsdale Area Schools Board of Education

Late Thursday afternoon, 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS received an updated letter from the principal of Sandburg Middle School that can be viewed below:

Dear Sandburg Middle School families,

I am writing to follow up with you about the recent weapon-related incident at our school and to help everyone understand the timeline of events. 

First, I’d like to offer my sincere apologies for any stress or anxiety this incident may have caused you or your family.

Late Friday evening, someone sent administrators a message that included a video of a disturbing event. (The message was sent late Friday evening and wasn’t seen until the next morning). It appeared to show a student holding a gun in a bathroom that looked to possibly be inside our school. We began investigating it on Monday. 

It’s important to share with you that at no point during our investigation did we find a weapon on school property, nor were direct threats made to students, staff or the school community. 

Our investigation continued through today and we concluded it this afternoon. At that point we turned the matter over to the Golden Valley Police Department. All students involved have been identified.

Due to state student data privacy laws we cannot share additional details about those involved, including discipline information. We follow the discipline guidelines outlined in the Student Rights and Responsibilities handbook.

There are some concerns about why we didn’t share this information sooner, and that is understandable. I’d like to offer an explanation that I hope helps. To maintain the integrity of our internal investigative process and to be able to communicate accurate information, we needed to gather facts. That takes time.

Any situation that potentially involves a weapon requires investigative steps, including but not limited to, searches of lockers, backpacks/bags and persons, visits to homes, family interviews and more.

Please encourage your student to talk with trusted adults if they see a situation school staff need to know about. They’re often aware of potential situations before adults are. Our counselors and other support staff are here to assist students and families if needed. 

If you have any questions or other concerns about school, please call me at 763-504-8200. Thank you for supporting your student and Sandburg Middle School.

Sincerely,

Jay Hancock

Principal

Sandburg Middle School