Student spat, gun photo concerns mother

By Tessa Roy
Posted 2/9/17

By TESSA ROY A social media post by a worried mother sparked outrage in the Warwick school community, a statement from Superintendent Philip Thornton, and then a former senator to speak out in defense. Toll Gate parent Gina Mercurio Martin's Facebook

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Student spat, gun photo concerns mother

Posted

A social media post by a worried mother sparked outrage in the Warwick school community, a statement from Superintendent Philip Thornton, and then a former senator to speak out in defense.

Toll Gate parent Gina Mercurio Martin’s Facebook post described a situation in which another student at the school threatened her daughter.

“Hypothetical question. Your child is threatened by another child, verbally and by text. The text reads that she is going to shoot him/her at school, and then drag his/her bloody body through the hallways, and it doesn't matter who gets in the way,” she wrote in the public post that was shared hundreds of times. Martin went on to describe contact with the school and police in September when the incident occurred, a suspension of the student who sent the threat, and then the student’s return a few days later. But it didn’t end there.

“You then receive a text from your son/daughter that is a picture of this child holding a gun. After again contacting the school, picking your child up because you are scared for their life, and again contacting the police department, the child is suspended again. The police then notify you that they have removed the ‘weapons,’ yes plural, that said child had access to,” she went on.

After that, Martin wrote, she was told the student was no longer a threat and likely wouldn’t be coming back to the school. She later said she got a call claiming the student was cleared to return, but that Martin would be notified when this would happen. However, Martin claimed she was back at Toll Gate on Monday picking up her daughter after she sent her a message saying the student who threatened her was at school.

The post circulated on Facebook on Monday, and many angry citizens commented on the post in support of Martin. On Tuesday, Superintendent Philip Thornton released a statement in an attempt to reassure worried parents.

“We are sending out this communication to clarify misleading information on social media, to inform the community and to reassure our families. We do so while balancing our obligation to keep all student information confidential,” he said.

“In the fall there was an incident involving students and social media at Toll Gate High School. In response, the School Department took appropriate action. At all times, students in attendance were and continue to be safe at Toll Gate High School,” he continued. “We continue to employ routine safety protocols for any potential threat present at all of our schools. As always, we work in concert with state and local entities as needed to ensure the safety of all students.”  

In response, Martin said everything she had written was true and that she’d “love to hear” what the department found misleading about her information. She said she was told the student in question was not at school Tuesday, would be out Wednesday, and would be back on Thursday. (Wednesday afternoon the superintendent announced that Warwick schools would be closed today because of snow.)

Captain Bradford Connor at the Warwick Police Department said that the incident is a school department case investigated in the fall of 2016 and that no charges were filed against the student. He said the decision to move the student back into the school is one made by the school department and not the police. He added that while the police department’s involvement in the case has been extremely limited, “we don’t feel the child has access to firearms or presents a danger.”

On Wednesday morning, the story continued as GoLocalProv reported the girl who had threatened Martin’s daughter was former Senator William Walaska’s granddaughter.

A frustrated Walaska spoke with the Beacon on Wednesday, saying, “This whole thing is exaggerated and fabricated.” He was angered by reports he said made it appear he was “peddling influence” in the decision to let his granddaughter go back to Toll Gate.

“I never once spoke to anybody in that school department or school committee. I attended one school committee meeting four or five months ago. [My daughter and I] sat there, listened [to the decision], and left,” he continued. He later added that he attended the meeting because he didn’t want his granddaughter to be alone and firmly insists he had no influence on the decision.

“I’ve never had an incident where my integrity has been questioned,” he said.

Walaska added that he was unaware of when or if his granddaughter was going back to Toll Gate until his daughter told him the day or two before she returned.

Though he said he wasn’t aware of the full extent of the incident (he had “no interest” in reading the texts his granddaughter is said to have sent to Martin’s daughter), Walaska said the two students had been best friends and had a conflict, but no altercations, over a boy. Though he agreed the gun photo was concerning, he said it did not present danger. It was taken months before and thus had nothing to do with the conflict she had with Martin’s daughter, he said. His granddaughter and friends had found the unloaded gun in the house and were handling it before someone took a photo of her holding it, he said, adding that she didn’t know the photo was shared. The gun is typically locked in a box, where it now is after it was “checked out” by officials, he said.

Walaska said his granddaughter served a four-month suspension and was cleared to go back to school after she went through tests and psych evaluations.

“That’s the honest-to-God truth. How they’re putting me in this, I don’t know,” he said. “I know I did the right thing. I heard what [the punishment] was and said that’s the way it is. You do something wrong, you pay the price, and she did.”

The incident was “teenagers doing things they shouldn’t be doing,” he said.

Martin, however, still feels unsafe and said she’ll be keeping her daughter out of school for the foreseeable future.

“She is not okay. She is worse now than she was,” Martin said.

Comments

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  • davebarry109

    As a pro gun person and staunch supporter of the 2nd amendment, I take umbrage at any characterization of one as dangerous because they are photographed holding a gun. Seriously? If you are so afraid of guns, perhaps you should take some training and arm yourself.

    Thursday, February 9, 2017 Report this

  • WarwickfortheKids

    I am very disappointed in the Beacon's use of the word "Spat" as a headline characterizing this situation. Let's be clear, anyone with a basic knowledge of school discipline policies, federal/state law, and the child welfare system knows that a situation that rose to the school committee level, resulted in suspension of a student for months, and involved DCYF is very serious, period. Stop continuing to victimize through diminishing the situation, it is irresponsible and harmful to everyone involved, including both teens and the entire school community.

    Thursday, February 9, 2017 Report this

  • PaulHuff

    Warwickforthekids....you sound like a hysterical soccer mom. The child said something inappropriate and was disciplined. No crime was involved. Let's not make it into more than it is.

    It sounds to me like the school department and the police department handled it very well.

    Thursday, February 9, 2017 Report this

  • WarwickfortheKids

    Stating the facts available to the public and pointing out that they do not add up to the portrayal of the incidents as a spat, or any of the other dismissive portrayals, does not constitute hysteria to most people. Could it be possible in your mind that it was handled well and that those steps constitute a very serious situation, not just saying something inappropriate? - That is my only point.

    Friday, February 10, 2017 Report this

  • Kimmyg321

    First of all I am all for gun rights I have been to the range since I was a kid, however if people payed attention they would see this isn't so much about the picture but the fact that this girl in texts threatened to shoot and drag her body through the school. In this day and age you can't do that and she is old enough to know better . That was threatening someone with bodily harm with a dangerous weapon. I myself would take that very seriously as a parent today. That is not being a worried soccer mom! This was a threat not a spat! And her grandfather should have checked into it more instead of brushing it off . What she did she actually should have been arrested for. They dropped the ball there. I would not want a child making threats like this in school with my kids. In this day and age if you look back at other incidents that is common sense.

    Friday, February 10, 2017 Report this

  • Kammy

    A threat was made. The student was suspended. The suspension ends and the student goes back to school. They send a picture of themselves with a gun to prove that they indeed could follow through on the threat. This was AFTER the child had been suspended once. And you don't see a problem?

    @davebarry109 this isn't about 2nd amendment rights. How can you not see that this student was trying to intimidate the other student? Of course a mother and daughter would be afraid of guns since the threat involved her dragging her bloody body through the halls. Your solution to this problem is for the other child to get training and buy a gun?

    PaulHuff - If it was handled well then why was a picture sent after the punishment was done? It appears as if the punishment didn't deter the students anger. This wasn't a potential threat. It was a very possible threat as the student had access to guns.

    As a mother, I would be pulling my child from this school and getting a restraining order against the other student. I would not be passive but rather proactive in my protection of my child. Thorton needs to get his act together because if he had this under control the mother would not be so worried.

    Friday, February 10, 2017 Report this

  • MaxwellRobinson

    davebarry109, I am also a pro gun supporter. A picture of a child holding a gun sent to someone after there were previous threats made is wrong. You have just given another reason to people who are uneducated when it come to firearms, to want to limit them an any way they can.

    Monday, February 13, 2017 Report this

  • davebarry109

    A picture of someone with a gun is just that. A picture. Why is this hard to understand? If she issued a threat, the threat does not need to be accompanied by a photo, although I've not read the two were connected...just that the mother was making the connection. Unless the threat was made a caption to the photo, the photo is just a photo. Get it?

    Wednesday, February 15, 2017 Report this