Gilbert teacher disciplined for not reporting knife brought to school by student

The Gilbert Community School District said a teacher has been disciplined over an incident that happened in December and was not reported until the end of January.

Andrew Preston said his son, a fourth-grader at Gilbert Intermediate School, told him in late January what happened in his class on Dec. 16, 2022 — that another student had brought what he described as “machetes” to school.

Preston said he and his wife spoke with the school’s principal on Jan. 30 about the incident.

On Feb. 3, the district acknowledged in an email to families of students in the class that a “knife” had been brought to school Dec. 16.

However, the district added the knife was “not brought as a direct threat or to harm others.”

Preston said his son told him the teacher had given the "knife" back to the student at the end of the day, and he said that's what frustrated him most — in addition to the incident not being immediately reported to school administration.

The district's policy on "dangerous weapons" states such objects are to be taken away from students, the student's parents are to be notified and law enforcement must be notified of the possession or confiscation of weapons or dangerous objects.

“That teacher has broken our trust. We don’t want our son in that class anymore,” Preston said.

Gilbert Intermediate School Principal Amy Griffin said in the email to families that she began an investigation as soon as she learned about the incident on Jan. 30.

“Discipline measures have been taken,” the email noted, without immediately specifying if that referred to the student, teacher, or both.

Preston said Griffin told him the teacher was receiving some kind of punishment, but that she could not share exactly what kind.

Troy Banning, a spokesperson for the school district, said the district cannot legally comment on specific personnel matters, but "when a staff member violates district policy, there are disciplinary actions taken that range from a meeting with his or her supervisor all the way up to a written improvement plan or termination. This incident was more serious than a conversation with a supervisor."

“The safety of your child and all of our students is our number one priority and we are taking this matter very seriously. This is a chance to remind our students that if they see something, say something,” Griffin said in the email to families.

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Preston disputed the characterization that the student had one knife. “My kid’s in fourth grade, sometimes he tells tall tales,” but not about this, he said.

Banning said too much time passed between the incident and it being brought to the attention of school administration to be able to confirm details such as the length of the weapon.

He said that the investigation determined the weapon "was not intentionally brought to school to threaten or harm others."

Banning also said the student's parents and law enforcement were notified Jan. 30 about the incident, after it was brought to Griffin's attention.

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Phillip Sitter covers education for the Ames Tribune, including Iowa State University and PreK-12 schools in Ames and elsewhere in Story County. Phillip can be reached via email at psitter@gannett.com. He is on Twitter @pslifeisabeauty.

This article originally appeared on Ames Tribune: Gilbert teacher disciplined for not reporting December knife incident