On Monday, Oct. 4, Jamesville-DeWitt Central School District Superintendent Peter Smith sent the following letter to J-D families and staff.
Dear J-D Families and Staff,
I want to make you aware of an incident that occurred at Saturday’s boys homecoming soccer game at J-D High School.
At about 5:45 p.m. on Oct. 2, students notified J-D High School Principal Paul Gasparini that they had seen a J-D student on campus with a knife. Mr. Gasparini immediately called 911 and then located the student outside of the athletic stadium. Mr. Gasparini did not allow the student to enter the stadium. The student was cooperative and walked to a nearby parking lot.
When officers arrived, they asked the student if the student had a knife in their possession, which they did. Police removed the knife from the student’s pocket without incident.
Officers then spoke with the student, members of the student’s family who were on campus and students who reported having seen the knife.
Police released the student who had brought the knife on campus to their parent, and the student and parent immediately left school grounds. The district has a no tolerance policy when it comes to weapons on campus, and the student will face disciplinary action.
The safety of our students, staff and visitors to our schools is a priority, and I am grateful that our students notified Mr. Gasparini of what they saw and that DeWitt police as well as a New York State Trooper quickly responded to our 911 call.
Our administrative team met this morning, and we are continuing to investigate Saturday’s incident. We want all of our students to feel safe when they are in our buildings and on our school grounds, and so we will continue to work with all students involved to try to find a resolution to the issues that prompted Saturday’s events. As always, our counselors are available to speak with any student who has concerns, and specifically, concerns about Saturday.
If you have any questions about how the district handled this incident, please reach out to me or Mr. Gasparini.
Sincerely,
Peter