Two Andrew Jackson High School students were disciplined after they
acknowledged making a noose out of shoelaces and placing it in a tree at
band camp Aug. 5, according to school officials.
The school was not aware of the incident until Monday, when a band
member and her parents came in to complain, said Bryan Vaughn, safety
director for Lancaster County School District.
Vaughn said the two students had been suspended from school, but due to
school policy he would not reveal the length of the suspension or
whether they would be allowed to return for the first day of school
Monday.
Vaughn said the noose was made from two shoelaces tied together. He
said two students made the device and hung it in a tree after getting
the shoelaces from a third student.
Witnesses said the loop in the shoelaces was about 6 inches in
diameter, Vaughn said, but that couldn’t be confirmed because the noose
was no longer in the tree Monday, and school officials do not know what
happened to it.
After the student and her parents complained, the school district immediately began investigating the incident, Vaughn said.
“Two students made poor choices, and they have not been at school since the investigation this past Monday,” he said.
Vaughn said school officials were concerned because of the negative and
racial connotations of the noose and said the school will not tolerate
such displays.
“It is a big deal when anyone feels bullied or harassed,” he said. “We have no tolerance for that behavior.”
The interviews did not reveal any intimidation or overt threats to
anyone, Vaughn said, and there were no racial comments made by any of
the students.
“This was not a difficult situation to investigate,” Vaughn said. “The students were straightforward.”
He said the students who made the noose and the witnesses didn’t
disagree about what happened, and the school district was comfortable
with its findings by Monday afternoon.
But Friday morning, the mother of the complaining student, Kim Cunningham, disputed parts of Vaughn’s account.
Cunningham, president of the Lancaster branch of the National Action
Network (NAN), called a press conference with other members of the civil
rights group, which is affiliated with the Rev. Al Sharpton.
About 10 people attended the event at the Resurrection of Life Ministry
on East Brooklyn Avenue. They included three other NAN officials: S.C.
State Coordinator James Johnson, Charlotte Vice Chair Robin Bradford and
Charlotte President Rosa Garvin.
Cunningham expressed her dissatisfaction with the school district’s handling of the matter.
“The students who hung the noose said, ‘Time to kill myself,’ and one
said ‘First, let’s hang some other people,’” Cunningham said, reading
from what she described as a statement from her 15-year-old daughter.
“That made me and my friend uncomfortable,” Cunningham quoted her daughter as saying. The teen was not at the press conference.
Cunningham said the two girls were the only African-Americans in the
band camp at Andrew Jackson High, which had a 20 percent black
population at the end of last school year.
Late Friday, Vaughn said Cunningham’s version of her daughter’s account
is not consistent with what the student told school officials.
“From witnesses interviewed, no one ever made a statement to indicate a
student wanted to harm himself, or harm others,” Vaughn said.
Vaughn said the girl has never stated that she was bullied, harassed or in fear.
“The child to this day has not made any kind of statement to anyone at the school district stating any of this,” Vaughn said.
“The statement presented at the news conference is in direct conflict with what she presented to the school this past Monday.”
At the press conference, Cunningham complained that the school should
have handled the incident as a threat and “an extreme safety matter,”
considering the noose a weapon under school policy and referring the
matter to law enforcement.
Cunningham said she called Sheriff Barry Faile to complain, but received no call back.
Vaughn said the school’s resource officer, a sheriff’s deputy, was
notified about the incident Monday by school Principal Alex Dabney, and
the officer participated in the interviews with students. Based on those
interviews, Vaughn said, the officer and school officials determined no
crime had been committed.
Sheriff Faile issued a statement Friday.
“The incident at Andrew Jackson High School last Friday was
investigated by school district personnel and was not reported to the
Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office as a criminal matter for
investigation,” Faile said.
“The deputy assigned as school resource officer at the school became
aware of the matter and discussed it with school personnel. Based upon
the information we were provided, this matter remains a school
disciplinary issue.”
Cunningham said she wants the school to provide counseling to the students involved.
Vaughn said counseling is readily available to those students.
8/14/16
Follow reporter Mandy Catoe on Twitter @MandyCatoeTLN or contact her at (803) 283-1152 or mcatoe@thelancasternews.com
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