Herndon High

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This must be very frightening for the Forestville ES parents who made the decision to buy so close to Herndon High.

What does it say about you that rather than expressing sympathy for the victim, or at the very least trying to reduce crime in your community, you seek to deflect to an entire unrelated community, many of whom are scared to send their kids to a school where kids receive death threats and are murdered in drive-bys?

Your community is not unrelated. You live there too. You just choose to turn your back on your immediate neighbors and use legal and political action to try to make sure it stays someone else's problem.

I don’t live in Herndon, but I certainly feel for the victim and his family more than you do.

I haven’t turned my back on anyone, in fact, I’d like to see some accountability from Herndon High administration and Gatehouse to make sure this never happens again. I’m not interested in sweeping this under the rug like you.

I’m a teacher and I genuinely don’t know what anyone at school could’ve / should’ve done. It happened outside of school, after school hours. It’s unclear a) if dad made contact or spoke to the correct person (the liaison was not it, if that’s who he called) and we don’t know if they spoke or he just left a messsge with some vague details . He did not go to law enforcement which would’ve been the better angle, I don’t judge him for that, but school liaison is not who you contact if your son is receiving death threats. It’s entirely possible he did not include details about potential gang affiliation or involvement or anything he felt would compromise his son.

Schools do a lot to try to stand in the gaps and keep kids safe but we cannot control what happens in their private lives, off school
property, on their own time. There is way, way too much unknown here to assume the school could’ve had much affect over any of this.

In this day and age, given all the violence in society and schools, if a call did in fact come in, if the liaison did not know the answer, the call shouls have been passed on. Had there been follow up at school, this death may have been prevented.

This is why I think the details are fuzzy. Perhaps dad called. Perhaps he alluded to something but didn’t come out and say it was death threats. Perhaps he just said “I need to talk can you call me back “ and it wasn’t clear what he needed. What I do NOT think happened is he called and spoke TO the liaison and said “Herndon High student First Last Name sent “_____” to my son with this explicit threat at 9:32 pm on this date and my son is in fear of his life at school and I want to file a report about it “ and then nobody responded or followed up. That is so supremely unlikely . What is more probable is he called and left a message like “I’m concerned about my son please call me back” and maybe nobody knew his concerns or they tried to call back and he didn’t answer. We really don’t know but the first scenario is not plausible , coming from someone who is a teacher and knows how these things go

Well, the process failed this family when The student was murdered, And at the very least they should examine what happened to see what can be done.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This must be very frightening for the Forestville ES parents who made the decision to buy so close to Herndon High.

What does it say about you that rather than expressing sympathy for the victim, or at the very least trying to reduce crime in your community, you seek to deflect to an entire unrelated community, many of whom are scared to send their kids to a school where kids receive death threats and are murdered in drive-bys?

Your community is not unrelated. You live there too. You just choose to turn your back on your immediate neighbors and use legal and political action to try to make sure it stays someone else's problem.

I don’t live in Herndon, but I certainly feel for the victim and his family more than you do.

I haven’t turned my back on anyone, in fact, I’d like to see some accountability from Herndon High administration and Gatehouse to make sure this never happens again. I’m not interested in sweeping this under the rug like you.

I’m a teacher and I genuinely don’t know what anyone at school could’ve / should’ve done. It happened outside of school, after school hours. It’s unclear a) if dad made contact or spoke to the correct person (the liaison was not it, if that’s who he called) and we don’t know if they spoke or he just left a messsge with some vague details . He did not go to law enforcement which would’ve been the better angle, I don’t judge him for that, but school liaison is not who you contact if your son is receiving death threats. It’s entirely possible he did not include details about potential gang affiliation or involvement or anything he felt would compromise his son.

Schools do a lot to try to stand in the gaps and keep kids safe but we cannot control what happens in their private lives, off school
property, on their own time. There is way, way too much unknown here to assume the school could’ve had much affect over any of this.

In this day and age, given all the violence in society and schools, if a call did in fact come in, if the liaison did not know the answer, the call shouls have been passed on. Had there been follow up at school, this death may have been prevented.

This is why I think the details are fuzzy. Perhaps dad called. Perhaps he alluded to something but didn’t come out and say it was death threats. Perhaps he just said “I need to talk can you call me back “ and it wasn’t clear what he needed. What I do NOT think happened is he called and spoke TO the liaison and said “Herndon High student First Last Name sent “_____” to my son with this explicit threat at 9:32 pm on this date and my son is in fear of his life at school and I want to file a report about it “ and then nobody responded or followed up. That is so supremely unlikely . What is more probable is he called and left a message like “I’m concerned about my son please call me back” and maybe nobody knew his concerns or they tried to call back and he didn’t answer. We really don’t know but the first scenario is not plausible , coming from someone who is a teacher and knows how these things go

Well, the process failed this family when The student was murdered, And at the very least they should examine what happened to see what can be done.

We really do not know what "process" was followed. I'm sure there will be some investigation done. But, this was gang related and that is law enforcement not schools. Dad likely did not want to call police and what do you expect the school to do?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This must be very frightening for the Forestville ES parents who made the decision to buy so close to Herndon High.

What does it say about you that rather than expressing sympathy for the victim, or at the very least trying to reduce crime in your community, you seek to deflect to an entire unrelated community, many of whom are scared to send their kids to a school where kids receive death threats and are murdered in drive-bys?

Your community is not unrelated. You live there too. You just choose to turn your back on your immediate neighbors and use legal and political action to try to make sure it stays someone else's problem.

I don’t live in Herndon, but I certainly feel for the victim and his family more than you do.

I haven’t turned my back on anyone, in fact, I’d like to see some accountability from Herndon High administration and Gatehouse to make sure this never happens again. I’m not interested in sweeping this under the rug like you.

I’m a teacher and I genuinely don’t know what anyone at school could’ve / should’ve done. It happened outside of school, after school hours. It’s unclear a) if dad made contact or spoke to the correct person (the liaison was not it, if that’s who he called) and we don’t know if they spoke or he just left a messsge with some vague details . He did not go to law enforcement which would’ve been the better angle, I don’t judge him for that, but school liaison is not who you contact if your son is receiving death threats. It’s entirely possible he did not include details about potential gang affiliation or involvement or anything he felt would compromise his son.

Schools do a lot to try to stand in the gaps and keep kids safe but we cannot control what happens in their private lives, off school
property, on their own time. There is way, way too much unknown here to assume the school could’ve had much affect over any of this.

In this day and age, given all the violence in society and schools, if a call did in fact come in, if the liaison did not know the answer, the call shouls have been passed on. Had there been follow up at school, this death may have been prevented.

This is why I think the details are fuzzy. Perhaps dad called. Perhaps he alluded to something but didn’t come out and say it was death threats. Perhaps he just said “I need to talk can you call me back “ and it wasn’t clear what he needed. What I do NOT think happened is he called and spoke TO the liaison and said “Herndon High student First Last Name sent “_____” to my son with this explicit threat at 9:32 pm on this date and my son is in fear of his life at school and I want to file a report about it “ and then nobody responded or followed up. That is so supremely unlikely . What is more probable is he called and left a message like “I’m concerned about my son please call me back” and maybe nobody knew his concerns or they tried to call back and he didn’t answer. We really don’t know but the first scenario is not plausible , coming from someone who is a teacher and knows how these things go

Well, the process failed this family when The student was murdered, And at the very least they should examine what happened to see what can be done.

We really do not know what "process" was followed. I'm sure there will be some investigation done. But, this was gang related and that is law enforcement not schools. Dad likely did not want to call police and what do you expect the school to do?

Under mandatory reporting laws, the school employee would’ve been required to go to the police, right?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This must be very frightening for the Forestville ES parents who made the decision to buy so close to Herndon High.

What does it say about you that rather than expressing sympathy for the victim, or at the very least trying to reduce crime in your community, you seek to deflect to an entire unrelated community, many of whom are scared to send their kids to a school where kids receive death threats and are murdered in drive-bys?

Your community is not unrelated. You live there too. You just choose to turn your back on your immediate neighbors and use legal and political action to try to make sure it stays someone else's problem.

I don’t live in Herndon, but I certainly feel for the victim and his family more than you do.

I haven’t turned my back on anyone, in fact, I’d like to see some accountability from Herndon High administration and Gatehouse to make sure this never happens again. I’m not interested in sweeping this under the rug like you.

I’m a teacher and I genuinely don’t know what anyone at school could’ve / should’ve done. It happened outside of school, after school hours. It’s unclear a) if dad made contact or spoke to the correct person (the liaison was not it, if that’s who he called) and we don’t know if they spoke or he just left a messsge with some vague details . He did not go to law enforcement which would’ve been the better angle, I don’t judge him for that, but school liaison is not who you contact if your son is receiving death threats. It’s entirely possible he did not include details about potential gang affiliation or involvement or anything he felt would compromise his son.

Schools do a lot to try to stand in the gaps and keep kids safe but we cannot control what happens in their private lives, off school
property, on their own time. There is way, way too much unknown here to assume the school could’ve had much affect over any of this.

In this day and age, given all the violence in society and schools, if a call did in fact come in, if the liaison did not know the answer, the call shouls have been passed on. Had there been follow up at school, this death may have been prevented.

This is why I think the details are fuzzy. Perhaps dad called. Perhaps he alluded to something but didn’t come out and say it was death threats. Perhaps he just said “I need to talk can you call me back “ and it wasn’t clear what he needed. What I do NOT think happened is he called and spoke TO the liaison and said “Herndon High student First Last Name sent “_____” to my son with this explicit threat at 9:32 pm on this date and my son is in fear of his life at school and I want to file a report about it “ and then nobody responded or followed up. That is so supremely unlikely . What is more probable is he called and left a message like “I’m concerned about my son please call me back” and maybe nobody knew his concerns or they tried to call back and he didn’t answer. We really don’t know but the first scenario is not plausible , coming from someone who is a teacher and knows how these things go

Well, the process failed this family when The student was murdered, And at the very least they should examine what happened to see what can be done.

We really do not know what "process" was followed. I'm sure there will be some investigation done. But, this was gang related and that is law enforcement not schools. Dad likely did not want to call police and what do you expect the school to do?

Under mandatory reporting laws, the school employee would’ve been required to go to the police, right?

That interview was odd. Lots of gaps --but I don't speak Spanish.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This must be very frightening for the Forestville ES parents who made the decision to buy so close to Herndon High.

What does it say about you that rather than expressing sympathy for the victim, or at the very least trying to reduce crime in your community, you seek to deflect to an entire unrelated community, many of whom are scared to send their kids to a school where kids receive death threats and are murdered in drive-bys?

Your community is not unrelated. You live there too. You just choose to turn your back on your immediate neighbors and use legal and political action to try to make sure it stays someone else's problem.

I don’t live in Herndon, but I certainly feel for the victim and his family more than you do.

I haven’t turned my back on anyone, in fact, I’d like to see some accountability from Herndon High administration and Gatehouse to make sure this never happens again. I’m not interested in sweeping this under the rug like you.

I’m a teacher and I genuinely don’t know what anyone at school could’ve / should’ve done. It happened outside of school, after school hours. It’s unclear a) if dad made contact or spoke to the correct person (the liaison was not it, if that’s who he called) and we don’t know if they spoke or he just left a messsge with some vague details . He did not go to law enforcement which would’ve been the better angle, I don’t judge him for that, but school liaison is not who you contact if your son is receiving death threats. It’s entirely possible he did not include details about potential gang affiliation or involvement or anything he felt would compromise his son.

Schools do a lot to try to stand in the gaps and keep kids safe but we cannot control what happens in their private lives, off school
property, on their own time. There is way, way too much unknown here to assume the school could’ve had much affect over any of this.

In this day and age, given all the violence in society and schools, if a call did in fact come in, if the liaison did not know the answer, the call shouls have been passed on. Had there been follow up at school, this death may have been prevented.

This is why I think the details are fuzzy. Perhaps dad called. Perhaps he alluded to something but didn’t come out and say it was death threats. Perhaps he just said “I need to talk can you call me back “ and it wasn’t clear what he needed. What I do NOT think happened is he called and spoke TO the liaison and said “Herndon High student First Last Name sent “_____” to my son with this explicit threat at 9:32 pm on this date and my son is in fear of his life at school and I want to file a report about it “ and then nobody responded or followed up. That is so supremely unlikely . What is more probable is he called and left a message like “I’m concerned about my son please call me back” and maybe nobody knew his concerns or they tried to call back and he didn’t answer. We really don’t know but the first scenario is not plausible , coming from someone who is a teacher and knows how these things go

Well, the process failed this family when The student was murdered, And at the very least they should examine what happened to see what can be done.

We really do not know what "process" was followed. I'm sure there will be some investigation done. But, this was gang related and that is law enforcement not schools. Dad likely did not want to call police and what do you expect the school to do?

Under mandatory reporting laws, the school employee would’ve been required to go to the police, right?

We have no idea which employee was actually told anything or whah info was conveyed. The dad saying he called does not mean the person he spoke to or left a message with has any indication this is what was going on. He did not go to the police probably because he didn’t want to implicate his son in whatever activity led to this, and I would bet he was similarly cagey with details to the person he spoke with / left a message with. If HE felt his son was in imminent danger of death it doesn’t make sense he didn’t immediately call the actual police and instead went to school support staff. So we cannot hold these people responsible for information it is not at all clear they actually had. Maybe the boys were separated at school already. Maybe they investigated and found no evidence of a death threat because texts had been deleted. We don’t know . What we DO know is it involved activities and actions OUTSIDE of school that school employees could not have stopped nor prevented. How was Herndon High supposed to keep a kid out at the public park alone at 930 pm safe from his opps? Be real

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This must be very frightening for the Forestville ES parents who made the decision to buy so close to Herndon High.

What does it say about you that rather than expressing sympathy for the victim, or at the very least trying to reduce crime in your community, you seek to deflect to an entire unrelated community, many of whom are scared to send their kids to a school where kids receive death threats and are murdered in drive-bys?

Your community is not unrelated. You live there too. You just choose to turn your back on your immediate neighbors and use legal and political action to try to make sure it stays someone else's problem.

I don’t live in Herndon, but I certainly feel for the victim and his family more than you do.

I haven’t turned my back on anyone, in fact, I’d like to see some accountability from Herndon High administration and Gatehouse to make sure this never happens again. I’m not interested in sweeping this under the rug like you.

I’m a teacher and I genuinely don’t know what anyone at school could’ve / should’ve done. It happened outside of school, after school hours. It’s unclear a) if dad made contact or spoke to the correct person (the liaison was not it, if that’s who he called) and we don’t know if they spoke or he just left a messsge with some vague details . He did not go to law enforcement which would’ve been the better angle, I don’t judge him for that, but school liaison is not who you contact if your son is receiving death threats. It’s entirely possible he did not include details about potential gang affiliation or involvement or anything he felt would compromise his son.

Schools do a lot to try to stand in the gaps and keep kids safe but we cannot control what happens in their private lives, off school
property, on their own time. There is way, way too much unknown here to assume the school could’ve had much affect over any of this.

In this day and age, given all the violence in society and schools, if a call did in fact come in, if the liaison did not know the answer, the call shouls have been passed on. Had there been follow up at school, this death may have been prevented.

This is why I think the details are fuzzy. Perhaps dad called. Perhaps he alluded to something but didn’t come out and say it was death threats. Perhaps he just said “I need to talk can you call me back “ and it wasn’t clear what he needed. What I do NOT think happened is he called and spoke TO the liaison and said “Herndon High student First Last Name sent “_____” to my son with this explicit threat at 9:32 pm on this date and my son is in fear of his life at school and I want to file a report about it “ and then nobody responded or followed up. That is so supremely unlikely . What is more probable is he called and left a message like “I’m concerned about my son please call me back” and maybe nobody knew his concerns or they tried to call back and he didn’t answer. We really don’t know but the first scenario is not plausible , coming from someone who is a teacher and knows how these things go

Well, the process failed this family when The student was murdered, And at the very least they should examine what happened to see what can be done.

We really do not know what "process" was followed. I'm sure there will be some investigation done. But, this was gang related and that is law enforcement not schools. Dad likely did not want to call police and what do you expect the school to do?

Under mandatory reporting laws, the school employee would’ve been required to go to the police, right?

We have no idea which employee was actually told anything or whah info was conveyed. The dad saying he called does not mean the person he spoke to or left a message with has any indication this is what was going on. He did not go to the police probably because he didn’t want to implicate his son in whatever activity led to this, and I would bet he was similarly cagey with details to the person he spoke with / left a message with. If HE felt his son was in imminent danger of death it doesn’t make sense he didn’t immediately call the actual police and instead went to school support staff. So we cannot hold these people responsible for information it is not at all clear they actually had. Maybe the boys were separated at school already. Maybe they investigated and found no evidence of a death threat because texts had been deleted. We don’t know . What we DO know is it involved activities and actions OUTSIDE of school that school employees could not have stopped nor prevented. How was Herndon High supposed to keep a kid out at the public park alone at 930 pm safe from his opps? Be real

Will never know unless someone looks into this. You seem keen to sweep everything under the rug - “nothing to see here, folks” - but there are a LOT of unanswered questions, and the Herndon High murder victim’s family deserves to at least have FCPS looking into this to see what transpired.

[Anonymous]

I am NOT “keen to sweep anything under the rug.” I AM saying it makes no sense to assume school had the full scope of the situation, knew the kid was in danger, did nothing, and should be left holding the blame. The dad perhaps feels guilt and regret over not keeping his son safe and wants to believe the school could’ve done more, but genuinely, why was a kid he felt was being actively threatened allowed out alone at 9:30 pm? I sense that there may be a natural need here to shift blame to school staff because sitting with the reality you did not do enough to protect your son or keep him out of these kinds of activities is mentally hard to cope with. Until a news story investigation can corroborate the claims that school staff had clear information and knew the risk the student was in and did absolutely nothing with that info, I am heavily reserving any finger pointing at them for not keeping a minor student safe after school hours, off school property. As school staff do the best we can for the students but there are things in their personal lives that exceed our control or influence and often parents protect their kids by NOT telling us information they think is damaging, embarrassing, or incriminating, and our hands are tied in those situations.

[Anonymous]

^to add- the fact the dad didn’t want his face shown indicates to me he is likely worried about gang retaliation and/or immigration status, both of which are things that parents (understandably) keep very close to the chest when interacting with school staff. But if , because of those concerns, information was conveyed in a roundabout way to not divulge information about those things, because he felt he needed to protect his son and his family, it is very likely he felt he had given the school info when in reality, they did not know the full scope of the situation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:^to add- the fact the dad didn’t want his face shown indicates to me he is likely worried about gang retaliation and/or immigration status, both of which are things that parents (understandably) keep very close to the chest when interacting with school staff. But if , because of those concerns, information was conveyed in a roundabout way to not divulge information about those things, because he felt he needed to protect his son and his family, it is very likely he felt he had given the school info when in reality, they did not know the full scope of the situation.

Just feels like you are attacking the victim’s grieving family rather than focusing on the potential failings of the school district. Just to be clear, I’m not saying they definitely did something wrong, but there clearly needs to be an investigation. This should not be swept under the rug.

If not from FCPS, the state AG should investigate.

[Anonymous]

NP. Of course FCPS will look into what happened. Not sure why you think they won’t and we definitely don’t need another Miyares stunt investigation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^to add- the fact the dad didn’t want his face shown indicates to me he is likely worried about gang retaliation and/or immigration status, both of which are things that parents (understandably) keep very close to the chest when interacting with school staff. But if , because of those concerns, information was conveyed in a roundabout way to not divulge information about those things, because he felt he needed to protect his son and his family, it is very likely he felt he had given the school info when in reality, they did not know the full scope of the situation.

Just feels like you are attacking the victim’s grieving family rather than focusing on the potential failings of the school district. Just to be clear, I’m not saying they definitely did something wrong, but there clearly needs to be an investigation. This should not be swept under the rug.

If not from FCPS, the state AG should investigate.

I am certainly not attacking the family. I understand why they may have made certain choices which I have tried to explain here objectively. I teach at a nearby school with similar demographics, this situation feels very familiar to me based on my own relationships with students and parents . But it is not at all clear from the one interview from the dad’s point of view that the school bears the culpability here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:NP. Of course FCPS will look into what happened. Not sure why you think they won’t and we definitely don’t need another Miyares stunt investigation.

To date our community has received one email which made it seem like a suicide. We’ve heard nothing about whether there was an ongoing threat to the community before the arrest.

I am not sure what makes you think that FCPS will actually conduct a real investigation. They should get a third party involved just like the hayfield football situation last year. The conflicts here are obvious.

[Anonymous]

Omg. We don’t need a third party investigation! It will be easy to see if the dad called someone at the school. I suspect he did not. And then to find out if someone called him back.

The FCPD is investigating the murder and has a gang unit. Those are the places that need to address this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Omg. We don’t need a third party investigation! It will be easy to see if the dad called someone at the school. I suspect he did not. And then to find out if someone called him back.

The FCPD is investigating the murder and has a gang unit. Those are the places that need to address this.

I believe he called someone. The content of that conversation, who it was with, how urgent the concern expressed was, the degree to which the school could have done anything at all, is what’s in question for me. We aren’t even aware if the kid who was allegedly sending his son the threats is the one who was arrested for ultimately killing him. It’s possible he was concerned about one student and the school addressed or looked into that and someone else shot him. If this was a gang related killing, that is also plausible. There are far, far too many unknowns here and the dynamics of the situation are certainly more complex than dad’s interview let on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Omg. We don’t need a third party investigation! It will be easy to see if the dad called someone at the school. I suspect he did not. And then to find out if someone called him back.

The FCPD is investigating the murder and has a gang unit. Those are the places that need to address this.

I believe he called someone. The content of that conversation, who it was with, how urgent the concern expressed was, the degree to which the school could have done anything at all, is what’s in question for me. We aren’t even aware if the kid who was allegedly sending his son the threats is the one who was arrested for ultimately killing him. It’s possible he was concerned about one student and the school addressed or looked into that and someone else shot him. If this was a gang related killing, that is also plausible. There are far, far too many unknowns here and the dynamics of the situation are certainly more complex than dad’s interview let on.

One reason gangs are so serious is that people fear reporting them. There are always others in a gang available to take action.

Another thing, and this is going to sound insensitive, is that people who lose a child are looking for an outside blame. That is not unusual. Parents of kids who commit suicide sometimes blame the school system--and sometimes, that may be accurate--but, not always.

Were there things that could have been done? Of course. But, I'm not sure there is much the school could do.

If the dad did talk to someone and no action was taken, that is a problem. However, I'm not sure it could have prevented this tragedy. This isn't 4th grade "mean girls."

Gangs are a problem in Fairfax County. They have been a problem for years--but, lately, the criminal activity seems to have increased.

Where are the news reports on this? Two kids in Herndon attacked within a week. (It was reported that he was stabbed by three others--so someone must know who they are. Have they been detained?) The stabbed child was in the Town of Herndon. The victim of the shooting was in Fairfax county jurisdiction.