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During the public comment period of the April meeting of the Rockbridge County School Board, a current Rockbridge County High School student addressed the Board about ongoing communication issues.
Quinn Fountain, a senior at the high school, recounted several incidents that have happened during his time there, and the response of the school system, which he said was inadequate.
“On Thursday, Dec. 2, 2021, one student brought a handgun and extra magazines [onto school grounds]. On Friday, Nov. 10, 2023, a bomb threat, and on March 12, 2024, a gas leak had been happening all day, the school was only evacuated after the final bell rang,” Fountain told the Board.
He spoke about the communication issues during and after these incidents.
“During the December [2021] incident, almost no one was made aware of the situation as it happened. The only people who were informed were admin and law enforcement,” Fountain said.
“Parents found out through students first, and a situation report was sent out the next day. All live updates were sent to parents through students,” he said.
“Even when we had an assembly about the general climate of the school, the ball was pushed toward the students, for letting it happen.”
In November of last year, a threat was called in at the high school. As administrators were not immediately sure of the nature of the threat, students were asked to shelter in place while the school was swept for firearms, then evacuated to the stadium.
This situation was made more difficult by the fact that the school’s public announcement system was in the process of being repaired.
“During the November incident, we did not have a way to contact faculty at mass. Teachers and faculty used an app called Band to communicate,” Fountain recalled. “During fourth period, one of our assistant principals sent a notice on the app reading, ‘code red.’
“Firstly, a code red needs to be treated much differently than a bomb threat,” he said. “Secondly, there is not nearly enough information being conveyed through those two words, and finally, my class was late to evacuate because of the lack of reach of band.”
Fountain said that not enough information was provided for parents on this incident.
He also said that neither students nor parents were notified about a recent gas leak at the high school.
“In the most recent incident, I heard a discussion about a smell of gas as I first entered the building around 8:15-8:20 in the morning,” he recalled.
“After school, when I made it to my dad’s work, he asked me about the school being evacuated because of a gas leak. I told him that was the first I heard of the evacuation” Overall, Fountain pushed the Board to improve the ways in which school officials are communicating with both students and parents.
“General communication about incidents has been through Facebook, which is not a proper information system,” he said. “Overall, lack of proper communication at RCHS that has put students in danger and left parents in the dark.”
