School ignores child threat
Helena-West Helena staff
Mar 2, 2018 at 12:49 PM
On Tuesday, February 20, 2018, Officer Luther Hayes was advised of a threat against a six-year-old kindergartner at Kipp Elementary School. The child making the threat said he was going to kill him.
The mother of the threatened student, Ms. Kiara Johnson (Goldsberry), said, "her son came home asking and terrified that he was going to die." The parents waited on a phone call or any type of message concerning their child, but heard nothing from the teacher or Kipp School.
On Wednesday, February 21, 2018, the parents of the threatened child took matters into their own hands and requested a meeting with the school director, Todd Dixon. An employee notified him of this critical issue and how serious it was. She came back and told the parents that he was busy doing reading intervention and they could come back in an hour. A nearby employee, Shanta Hillard witnessed these verbal actions between the two. Ms. Johnson (Goldsberry) also stated, "when she was able to speak with Mr. Dixon, he had no knowledge of the incident.
During the meeting the situation got hostile and Mr. Dixon stated, "if you want me to get ugly, I will get ugly." The parents left to avoid the trouble.
Shortly after, the teacher, Ms. Nikecia Fuller, called Ms. Johnson (Goldsberry). According to Ms. Johnson (Goldsberry) and her child, the teacher stated she heard the threat, but there was a lot going on in her classroom, so she could not handle the situation at the time. "Ms. Fuller later called Mr. Chamarko Goldsberry, the father of the threatened child, apologizing for what happened. Ms. Johnson (Goldsberry) asked Ms. Fuller why wasn't she notified of the issue the day it happened. She asked why the other student was allowed to come back to school and why didn't she contact her this morning.
According to Ms. Johnson (Goldsberry), the teachers response was "she was running late." Ms. Johnson (Goldsberry) also stated she didn't know why Kipp Delta is not treating this as a serious matter.
According to the police report on February 28, Ms. Fuller, the teacher, is now saying she doesn't know anything.
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