A small group of Bowness High School students are talking about what they call a major communication breakdown that made them feel insecure at school.
Last Wednesday, a student was arrested after carrying a gun to a school in Northwestern Calgary, and students say they believe the administration withheld important information about the situation.
Students left class shortly after 10 a.m. to protest how the situation was handled.
Student Kate Sorge, 16, says she first learned of a student’s arrest from rumors that were later confirmed by a CBC News article.
But Sorge tells students and parents they were only told that the administration had helped the police in an investigation and that the students were always safe – they were never told anything about a gun.
10th grader Kate Sorge says she would like to see changes in the way emergency situations are communicated to the school community. (Mike Symington / CBC News)
“We should be the first to know about an incident like this, and when the news comes first, it looks like they were hiding things from us,” the 10th grader said.
“All the time, they’ve been telling us ‘we were never in danger,’ and that’s a direct email quote, and that would be wrong, because a gun at school is definitely in danger.”
Her father, Blair Sorge, says he supports his daughter and classmates in calling the administration.
“Children should have a chance to say they were uncomfortable. If you want to treat them like adults, you have to give them the information, and the information the school gave them was very limited,” he said.
“The fact that no one at the school says anything to the students, in short: this is unacceptable … You’re telling us that the reason you can’t give us any information is that it’s an active and ongoing investigation, and however, the police are coming out and informing the media of what is happening. “
Blair Sorge is the father of a Bowness High School student. He says students have a right to be upset about the school’s lack of information. (Mike Symington / CBC News)
Student Destiny Weaver says the incident makes her feel that students are being “gas-lit” by the administration.
“I feel like they didn’t really think about the kids when they were doing this process,” the 16-year-old said. “I felt very insecure. I felt that at any moment, any of my friends or myself could have been hurt. And just that thought scares me.”
Kate Sorge says she believes everyone can learn a lesson about communication and what happens when communication is mismanaged.
“There are situations that you hear every day in the news about people with guns and people with guns in schools, and that’s never safe, never. So regardless of the purpose of the student with the gun, it was dangerous from from the beginning. bat, “he said.
“The lesson here is that we need to focus on the system and how do we communicate the danger to the school and parents next time? Because that could have gone wrong very quickly and they basically lied to us.”
10th grader Destiny Weaver says she believes the administration could have done more to protect students during last week’s incident. (Mike Symington / CBC News)
She says that while she is disappointed that there will not be a larger turnout for the outing, she understands that some students feared the repercussions of the administration for participating.
“We only speak for them because they are afraid of being suspended here, which is not good, because we should be able to say what we think and say what we really feel about the situation without being suspended.”
In a statement to CBC News, the Calgary Board of Education said Bowness High School staff received instructions from CPS during the incident and that the school administration is working to address the issues. concerns of students and families.