Pleasant Hill Parents Want Boy Who Threatened To Kill Classmates Kicked Out

PLEASANT HILL (KPIX) - Parents at an East Bay middle school were rallying to get a student kicked out after he allegedly threatened to kill dozens of classmates at his previous school.

The school board meeting Monday night was crowded as parents and students sat on floors and lined walls, waiting to give the district a piece of their mind.

"I should not be scared to send my kid to school," one parent told the board.

But a number of parents said they are afraid, like Kim Childers.

"He had threatened to kill 30 people on the last day of school," she said.

It happened when the student was attending Valley View Middle School in Pleasant Hill in early June. The boy put the message on Snapchat and the FBI investigated.

"That child was arrested, booked in juvenile hall. Evidence was found, and multiple firearms seized from his home," said Childers.

But ultimately, the student was not charged. He was transferred to Sequoia Middle School, where he was in two classes with Childer's child until she removed her student, and started a petition that more than 1200 people have signed in a matter of days.

They want the district to expel the student who made the threat.

"The district, according to one of their education codes regarding terrorist threats, they do have the right to expel the student from the district or from the school," said Childers.

But in a letter to parents, Mt. Diablo District Superintendent Nellie Meyer said despite what the student wrote, authorities "found no viable threat from the student and the District Attorney's office declined to prosecute. Without substantial evidence of a viable threat a student may not be excluded from this District."

"If the elected DA has not charged this child with a crime, who are we, the uninformed parents, to judge him when we have none of the facts?" asked one parent.

But that explanation was not good enough for most of the other parents at the school board meeting Monday night.

Over and over, they insisted, "We don't want this child in our school."

The board was not expected to make a decision at Monday night's meeting.