ESHS Principal acted responsibly in school fracas, says Governor

Governor John Rankin said a recent incident at the Elmore Stoutt High School which resulted in parents rushing to take students away from the campus was dealt with responsibly.

Initial unconfirmed reports suggested assailants had entered the campus with a firearm, but officials quickly dispelled those assertions and said members of the Royal Virgin Islands Police Force (RVIPF) responded promptly and brought the situation under control.

“My understanding is that the principal and her team acted in a highly responsible way in response to the incident as did the RVIPF and of course, we live in a world of instant social media which is beyond the direct control of any particular individual,” Governor Rankin said at a recent press conference.

He added: “As I said in my statement, I fully understand the concerns of parents and children in relation to what occurred, but I believe responsible steps were taken and we give thanks that we have not – and I just will never see in this territory – the sort of incidents we’ve seen in some other jurisdictions at our schools.”

Premier Dr Natalio Wheatley, in the meantime, said there was much hysteria surrounding the incident, but he too assured residents that the situation was brought under control in short order by the police.

The Premier said he couldn’t speak about the timing of the communications with parents, but noted that conversations with the principal and other officials revealed that there was no gun present on campus as some asserted in the media.

“Because there was so much hysteria surrounding the situation, [officials] said they allowed persons to be able to leave with their children if they chose to. But based on what the officials had said, the children were not in any danger at that particular point,” Premier Wheatley said.

“Whatever regulations one might try to adopt in relation to social media, it doesn’t prevent any individual with an individual cellphone filming an incident and it becomes instantly circulated,” Rankin said while acknowledging that facts in such incidents needed to be publicised quickly.

“I think that’s a top priority – assure the safety of the individuals – and I believe that’s what the principal and the police did, and then you can communicate as soon as you can thereafter,” Governor Rankin said. “But yeah, we need to get facts out, but the first point is to assure the safety of people.”

Premier Wheatley urged that the media should not put out information that is not accurate and that can unnecessarily cause hysteria, anxiety and in some instances, chaos. “It’s important for us to have accurate information to the public and we want to partner with the media organizations to ensure that that’s the reality,” the Premier said.