Parents surprised Tuesday by the police presence at Watson Road Elementary quickly had their concerns addressed with an email from the school鈥檚 administration.
鈥淕ood morning Watson Road community! I鈥檒l start off with, everyone is safe,鈥� read the note to parents.
鈥淢any of you witnessed a police presence at Watson Road this morning. I can鈥檛 share all the details but it was definitely a case of one young student bragging to another young student about violent behaviour.鈥�
The email went on to say that the incident offered a great opportunity to talk to children about the problems with bragging, or joking with other students about weapons and violence.
While the missive was aimed at quelling concerns some felt more arise.
Central Okanagan School District superintendent Kevin Kardaal said that shouldn鈥檛 be the case.
The situaton, he explained, started with a conversation between two primary age students. One of those students conveyed what was said to a parent and that prompted the parent to call the police. Kardaal wouldn鈥檛 share what was said but noted that there was no real threat to safety.
The parent didn鈥檛 call the school first, opting to go to police and Kardaal said that鈥檚 fine.
鈥淚鈥檇 rather people reacted with an abundance of caution,鈥� he said. 鈥淭he good thing was, if something was going to happen, there was a good reaction from police and we worked together well.鈥�
While that may have amounted to a non-incident, schools were facing something more serious Wednesday.
in the afternoon saying police have learned an altercation, between two students of a local school that escalated to the point that one of those youths produced a knife.
Kardaal said that incident involved two students that got into an altercation, and one student, 鈥渇rom fear or whatever,鈥� produced a knife.
The other student grabbed at that hand, and the student with the knife pulled his hand away and the other kid鈥檚 hand was cut, he said.
鈥淭his was an isolated incident,鈥� said Kardaal. 鈥淪taff is aware, they are working with RCMP and the families involved.鈥�
All in all these episodes have been a dark mark on an otherwise 鈥渆xcellent start to the school year,鈥� he said.
鈥淚t鈥檚 unfortunate when these kinds of incidents (with the high school students) occur,鈥� he said.
鈥淲e encourage people to solve their issues with the support of adults.鈥�
