Region 13 Schools Chief Issues Statement After Student's Arrest

Letter written by schools superintendent:

March 4, 2018

Regional School District 13 staff, parents and families:

I am writing to give you the most up-to-date information on the matter that was brought to your attention on Thursday evening March 1st. I want to also reinforce my assurance to you that the student in question will not be in our schools or on school grounds now or in the foreseeable future. As a reminder, RSD13 uses SchoolMessenger to communicate with our parent/guardian community via email, text, and automated phone calls. While we continually work to keep our contact lists up to date, we cannot guarantee email delivery.

Please check your spam or junk email folders often, add @rsd13.org to your spam white-list, and/or reach out to your email provider for assistance ensuring delivery of our emails. All information that has been shared with you is located on our district homepage.

On Friday night the same student was charged for a discriminatory and demeaning comment posted on social media that was directed at a Coginchaug faculty member. The charge was harassment and breach of peace. Both press releases concerning the student’s arrest are linked to this post. (You can view them here Press Release regarding 3/1/2018 and Press Release regarding 3/2/2018)

I have had consistent communication with the student’s family since Thursday evening. The family is deeply saddened by the events that have occurred and are distraught about the impact this has had on other students and the school community. They have assuredme that their child does not currently, nor has ever had, access to firearms. In addition, they further confirmed that their child did not intend to carry out any acts of violence.

Again, Coginchaug High School will have police presence within and outside of the school building beginning at 7 a.m. and throughout the day. A third trooper will be visiting our other four schools throughout the day. Students can anticipate seeing school administration with police throughout the week.
I appreciate your questions and communication and support of our students.

Sincerely,
Kathryn Veronesi, Ed.D.
Superintendent of Schools