Parents are calling for their children to retain access to their phones at all times after a stabbing incident at West Potomac High School in Virginia.
They say they were left without news for “at least half an hour” after an unnamed 16-year-old was stabbed by another student on Wednesday.
What happened at West Potomac High School?
A 16-year-old student was stabbed just before 10 a.m. on Wednesday after a fight broke out at West Potomac High School in Alexandria, Virginia. The student is in stable condition at a nearby hospital, WTOP reported.
Per law enforcement, a 15-year-old student was taken into custody and will be charged with malicious wounding. Police reportedly responded to the incident within minutes.
“While there’s a sense, obviously, of shock that this would happen at West Potomac High School, one of our high schools here in Fairfax County, I’m very proud of the response of our staff to this incident,” Superintendent Michelle Reid said. “They responded quickly and admirably and may have saved a life today.”
Some parents are unsatisfied with how the school communicated about the stabbing incident
Although parents were notified of the incident through the school’s alert system, some said they didn’t receive the news for at least half an hour and weren’t able to pick up their children from school early.
“At the end of the day, I think that’s all these parents want, is to get their kids, hug their kids,” Bill Beal, the parent of a student who saw the stabbing happen, said. “There’s more than one victim in this — people that witnessed it.”
Others have criticized the phone policy in place for Fairfax County public schools. It requires students to silence their phones and put them away during instructional periods. Although they recognize the phones can be a distraction, some parents say retaining access to a phone is essential in case of an emergency.
“I think this is the reason kids nowadays, in this day and age, they need their phones to be able to contact parents,” parent Joanne Boyce, told NBC News. “We didn’t get any kind of notification from the school for at least half an hour afterwards, which I understand their busy dealing with that, but parents need to know these things.”
“I have never agreed with the cellphone policy anyway, and this is why she needs to have her phone,” Cheryl Brewer, whose granddaughter witnessed the stabbing, added.
Source: West Potomac High School Stabbing: Parents Speak Out About Phone Policy In Aftermath Of Incident
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