COLDWATER – Many local parents are upset and calling for answers following an “egregious” incident at Coldwater Public School late last week.
As a school bus loaded with kids waited to depart the school on Friday afternoon, a pellet gun was fired at the bus, shattering a window in the process, according to a Monday letter sent to parents of children on the bus.
Following the incident on Friday, children were transferred to a “spare vehicle” before being transported home. No injuries occurred during the incident, school board officials told OrilliaMatters.
In the letter to parents, principal Kelly Cox said the OPP and the Simcoe County Student Transportation Consortium (SCSTC) confirmed on Monday the window shattered due to pellet gun-fire, adding “the safety of our students is always top priority.”
A number of parents, however, took to social media on Tuesday expressing concern for their children’s safety and with how school officials handled the incident.
Rebeca Lipscombe, Tori Vivian, and Sara Pleasance — parents concerned with the school’s response — spoke about their frustration over the incident with OrilliaMatters on Tuesday.
Lipscombe said numerous children shared independent accounts that the bus had been shot at by a gun, which parents only learned about after discussing the incident with each other.
“Kids sometimes don't always say what actually happened, right? But then we're getting independent stories from all the different kids (of) the same thing,” she said. “The gun was shot, I guess fourth row from the front, in the window.”
However, a screenshot of the email from SCSTC and principal Cox state there was no known cause to the shattered window.
“My son also said (the principal) was talking to the driver — the driver said that he thought it was a pellet gun, so from the onset it was obvious there's a weapon of some sort discharged on school property,” Lipscombe said.
The three mothers expressed concern that children were moved from the vehicle and transported home without police presence on site; they were also angry over the lack of communications from the school about the incident on Friday evening.
“At the very least … communication (from the school) should have been involved,” said Pleasance. “Those kids should not have been removed from that bus without police present, and making sure the area was secure. Who's to say they weren't across the street still shooting?”
“I know (the incident is) separate from the school. I feel concerned about the way it was mishandled. It's egregious,” said Lipscombe. “I don't know how you have a weapon discharge on school property that's not an immediate lockdown, that you're not notifying parents.”
After learning about the incident, Pleasance said she contacted police on Friday evening, who had not yet heard about what happened.
“They were shocked at how it was handled,” she said. “He got (back) to me as soon as he could, (which) ended up being 10 o'clock at night. But he (said) they're taking it seriously. This is not a joke. It's not something to brush under the rug.”
Moving forward, all three parents hope to see consequences for how the incident has been handled.
“I want clarification on what lockdown protocol is or is supposed to be. I want an apology. I mean, there needs to be a reprimand of some sort,” said Lipscombe.
“We're not just out here to bash people, but more so to protect our community and obviously our children and anybody else’s children,” said Pleasance. “That is the main goal here because the situation should have been handled properly. Friday was not – clearly.”
Simcoe County District School Board’s manager of communications, Sarah Kekewich, said the incident was regarded as a “mechanical issue” on Friday.
“The bus operator reported to the Simcoe County Student Transportation Consortium (SCSTC) that a window had shattered,” she said in a statement to OrilliaMatters. “At that time, it was suspected to be a mechanical issue with the window and was reported as such. Students were placed on an alternate bus and transported home.”
Over the weekend, the OPP told SCSTC officials they had received a call that the window shattered due to pellet gun-fire, Kekewich said, noting the school board became aware of the incident on Monday.
“On Monday, the SCDSB received information from the OPP and SCSTC confirming that a pellet from a pellet gun that came from outside of the bus was the cause of the shattered window,” she said. “Upon receiving this information, a letter was sent to all families with children on bus route 809.”
Coldwater Public School principal, Kelly Cox, did not respond to requests for comment for this article.
There is an ongoing investigation into the incident, and the OPP encourage the public to reach out with any information, said Orillia OPP Const. Brett Boniface.
“The incident was reported to police and we are conducting an investigation into the incident. Anyone with information is asked to contact Orillia OPP at 705-326-3536 or Crime Stoppers at 800-222-TIPS(8477),” he said.
Boniface said there was an additional weapons call in Coldwater on Saturday, with two people charged, but could not confirm whether the two were related.