Loveland High School principal reinstated, listening session slated

The Thompson School District announced Thursday that Loveland High School Principal Michael James will return to his position April 10, after being placed on administrative leave last week.

Additionally, it announced a community listening session April 13 at LHS from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. to address the chaos that resulted from confusion at the school last Wednesday.

Teachers were warned of a threat received via the state’s Safe2Tell warning system early Wednesday morning, and were told that the threat was not credible.

Nevertheless, some teachers began warning colleagues and students to leave the building.

Ultimately, the school ended up canceling classes, but some students and teachers had already left the building before communication reached parents.

The district, in its announcement Thursday, blamed poor communication by the district.

“At the end of this (staff) meeting, information about the incident that was not current was shared with staff and the way that it was described created a situation where some staff members believed that the best decision was to inform others that the school was not safe and that people should depart the campus,” the district wrote. “The district began the process of preparing communication regarding the incident. However, due to the schedule disruption within the school, the decision was later made at approximately 9:45 to cancel classes for the remainder of the day. Communication was then revised and distributed to students, families and staff.”

Further examination of processes and feedback from the community will be taken in consideration, the district added.

“As part of its investigation, the district examined many of the actions that were taken at the campus that day as well as steps taken by the district,” its announcement said. “The district will continue to work with staff members at the school and throughout the district to review safety and security protocols and to collaborate on opportunities to enhance the system. Each student and staff member within our district deserves a safe, comfortable and supportive environment and we will continue to work together to improve our processes.”

Some of the improvements announced in the Thursday communication include:

• Creation of a community safety committee “to capture the voices of families on an on-going basis, as their input is essential to school safety.”

• Increased partnerships with local law enforcement agencies, including increasing the number of school resource officers within the schools.

• Improving community and parent communications regarding safety.